Main description:

Ultrasound (US) prenatal screening has been proposed as the most effective technique for Trisomy 21 early assessment. Assessment of Nuchal Translucency (NT) offers promising non-invasive method for fetal abnormalities detection up to 75%. Nevertheless, current clinician practice of NT examination by locating the sonogram calipers on 2D US image requires highly trained and competent operators by adhering to a standard tedious protocol; therefore it is prone to errors and hence it decreases the reliability in intra- and inter-observer repeatability.
This Brief provides the basic knowledge regarding Trisomy 21 diseases and its existing detection methods. The restrictions and disadvantages of each method are discussed accordingly. Therefore, a non-invasive early detection method using 3D ultrasound reconstruction of Nuchal Translucency is introduced. This new method for 3D NT assessments has an edge over the previous 2D methods, and entails the composite function in visualizing the explicit internal marker structure. Further, image processing techniques covered from data acquisition, pre-processing, speckle noise reduction and 3D segmentation are also discussed. This should be especially useful for students and professional researchers in the Biomedical and image processing fields.

Contents:

1 Introduction
1.1 Background of Research
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Objectives
1.4 Scope of Project
1.5 Contribution of Book
2 Medicine and Engineering Related Researches on the Utility of
Two Dimensional Nuchal Translucency
2.1 Review of Trisomy 21
2.2 History of Trisomy 21 Detection
2.3 Maternal Age Factor
2.4 Effect of Previous Pregnancies Factor
2.5 Existing Detection Methods of Trisomy 21
2.5.1 Ultrasound
2.5.2 Maternal Serum Markers
2.5.3 Genetic Testing
2.5.4 Summary
2.6 Two Dimensional Nuchal Translucency
2.6.1 Medicine Review and Related Researches
2.6.1.1 Existing Limitation
2.6.2 Engineering Review and Related Researches
2.6.2.1 Summary
2.7 Three Dimensional Ultrasound Applications
2.7.1 Summary
3 Designs and Implementation of Three Dimensional Nuchal Translucency
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Data Acquisition
3.3 DICOM and Clips Storage
3.4 3D NT Reconstruction and Visualization
3.4.1 3D Scanning Acquisitions
3.4.2 3D Volume Rendering
3.4.2.1 Virtual Slider Extraction Designs
3.4.2.2 VTK Widget Event Handling Mechanism
3.5 3D Nuchal Translucency Segmentation
3.5.1 Preprocessing 3D Diffusion
3.5.2 3D Seeded Region-Based Segmentation
3.5.3 3D NT in Vivo Measurement
4 Clinical Tests and Measurements
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Descriptive Analysis
4.3 Intra-Observer Variability
4.4 Level Agreement between Measurements
4.4.1 Paired Sample t-test
4.5 Method Repeatability
4.6 Summary
4.7 Discussion
4.7.1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Early Fetal
Abnormalities Detection
5 Future Improvements
5.1 Conclusions
5.2 Limitations and Recommendations