The relatively new technique of real-time virtual sonography coordinates magnetic navigation and computer software to depict ultrasound with results from other imaging modalities together in a single display.
Real-time virtual sonography is mostly limited to research purposes, Dr. Silvia Bernardo told AuntMinnie.com. This preliminary, prospective study set out to determine the feasibility and practicality of real-time virtual sonography in diagnosing pathologies in the fetal brain.
Bernardo and colleagues from the Sapienza University of Rome loaded the MR images and ultrasound scans of 35 patients suspected of having cerebral pathology into a fusion imaging system (Ascendus, Hitachi Aloka Medical) and manually synchronized them. The system then registered the data and also matched and fused the images in less than 15 to 20 minutes. Compared with standard evaluation using MRI and ultrasound, real-time virtual sonography improved the diagnosis of cerebral pathologies in 25 of the 35 cases.
"Thanks to information from both ultrasound and MRI, real-time virtual sonography allows for better identification of the different fetal pathologies and could improve diagnostic performance compared to ultrasound or MR examination alone," Bernardo said.
