Fetal cardiac function: M-mode and 4D spatiotemporal image correlation

Abstract

Fetal cardiac function has been shown to be a marker of disease severity in many conditions, including intrauterine growth restriction, congenital heart defects or disease (CHD), twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, idiopathic hydrops, fetal arrhythmias, and others. It is often targeted for evaluation of patient management, for providing complete and accurate diagnoses in CHD, for patient counseling, or in referring for fetal cardiac interventions. In this review we will describe the use of M-mode and 4D spatiotemporal image correlation in fetal cardiac evaluation, the parameters that can be measured, and their application to clinical practice.