Spatio‐temporal image correlation (STIC): new technology for evaluation of the fetal heart

Abstract

K E Y W O R D S: fetal heart; spatio-temporal image correlation; STIC ABSTRACT Spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) is a new

Four-dimensional fetal echocardiography with spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC): A systematic study of standard cardiac views assessed by different observers

“…Our purpose in choosing this approach was to limit our study only to the postprocessing part of the examination. As volume acquisition can be affected by many factors such as operator skills, gestational age at examination, maternal body habitus, fetal position, fetal movement, fetal breathing, and amniotic fluid volume [54,55,58,69], it would be difficult to control for these factors when analyzing the data. Volume acquisition has been previously studied by Viñ als et al [55], who examined volume datasets of 100 consecutive fetuses between 18 and 37 weeks.…”

“…Three-dimensional [45][46][47][48][49][50][51] and, more recently, four-dimensional ultrasonography of the fetal heart [52][53][54][55][56][57][58] have the potential for making the examination less operator-dependent. Once a volume dataset is acquired, the heart can be examined using multiple planes of section, some of which are unobtainable with two-dimensional ultrasound.…”

Inversion mode spatio‐temporal image correlation (STIC) echocardiography in three‐dimensional rendering of fetal ventricular septal defects

“…all structures are amenable to exploration along any view angle, irrespective of fetal position 3 . A reliable en face view of atrioventricular valves or outflow tracts may be obtained by 4D STIC echocardiography.…”

Evaluation of the Fetal Heart by Four-dimensional Echocardiography

“…1 Four-dimensional visualization of the fetal heart became a practical reality with the incorporation of spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) algorithms into commercially available equipments. 2,3 STIC is a technique that allows acquisition of fetal heart volume and visualization of cardiac structures as a 4D cine sequence. 2,3 In this technique, the array inside the transducer housing performs a single slow sweep, recording a single 3D dataset.…”

“…2,3 STIC is a technique that allows acquisition of fetal heart volume and visualization of cardiac structures as a 4D cine sequence. 2,3 In this technique, the array inside the transducer housing performs a single slow sweep, recording a single 3D dataset. STIC derives the heart rate from the periodicity of the movements of the cardiac structures, and eventually a single virtual cardiac cycle, each frame of which is the result of the overlay of many acquired frames, is reconstructed.…”