Objective To evaluate three dimensional ultrasound in surface and volume rendering mode in fetal malformations of the face. Setting Day assessment unit in a university hospital. Subjects Four cases have been examined: two cases represented cleft lip, one case was a male with trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) with proboscis, and one case represented a male fetus with unilateral anophthalmia. Conclusion A new technique of three dimensional ultrasound visualisation in fetal malformation using surface and volume rendering is presented. The equipment consisted of a commercially available ultrasound machine, a built‐in graphic workstation, and three dimensional software. Post‐processing of data required approximately 10 minutes of calculation. The application of three dimensional ultrasound in complex malformations of the face appears to provide reasonable value for prenatal diagnosis and may become clinically useful in the near future.

We received data of 144 patients, who had been operated upon in the 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Vienna because of persisting sonographically detected "simple" adnexal cysts. Only 3 cysts were malignant (one of them borderline). All three patients were postmenopausal. The mean diameter of the malignant cysts were 7, 11 and 18 cm, respectively. 82 sonographically simple cysts were histologically benign. We found 27 cysts associated with chronic pelvic sepsis (hydrosalpinx and pseudocysts), 22 were benign cystadenomas and 10 were endometriotic.

This is a report of a 18 year-old woman with two consecutive fetuses suffering from a Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM). The first diagnosis of Dandy-Walker syndrome was at 24 weeks gestation. According to the parent's request, this pregnancy was terminated. Seven months after that event a new case of Dandy-walker malformation was diagnosed in the same woman. She was at 21 weeks of gestation.