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Aim: To assess the impact of a protocol for reduction of sternal wound complications following open heart surgery.

Normal intracranial translucency values during first trimester gestation in regional south Indian population: cross sectional study. Background: Pregnancy is associated with a plethora of changes, which has to be monitored regularly with diagnostics like ultrasound, however the shortcomings of US requires alternatives such as intracranial translucency to detect anatomic malformations in the fetus.  Estimate the normal reference values of intracranial translucency in the first trimester screening of low risk singleton pregnancy using ultrasonography  Assess the relation between intracranial translucency & Crown rump length  Assess the relation between intracranial translucency and Nuchal translucency Materials and methods: Study was carried out amongst 117 pregnant females between 18-45 years who came for First trimester aneuploidy screening attending MGMCRI, Puducherry. Results:The maximum no of pregnant women <25 years (47.9%). The mean gestational age was 12.36 weeks {12-12.6 weeks (69.2%)}. The mean crown rump length, intra-cranial translucency and nuchal translucency, wherein the recorded mean values were found to be 6.36, 1.56 & 1.60 respectively. At 11 to 14 weeks of Gestation, the IT was 1.1to 2.5 mm & the CRL increased from 51 to 80 mm with the mean NT values increasing from 1.16 to 2.2. Conclusion:Our study made it evident that Intracranial Translucency can be easily measured while scanning for NT, which is backed by the positive correlation between the IT measurements against the gestational week and CRL length, with a linear advancement & there exists a positive correlation between NT & CRL, amongst normal singleton pregnancies of south Indian population. Hence, intracranial translucency can be used as an early assessment tool for the diagnosis of any malformations associated with the fetus.