Edward Araujo Jnior, Luciano Marcondes Machado Nardozza, Claudio Rodrigues Pires, Hlio Antonio Guimares Filho, Antonio Fernandes Moron
Comparison of two- and three-dimensional ultrasonography in lung volume measurement of normal fetuses
Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the two- and three-dimensional methods for measuring fetal lung volume of normal fetuses.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 51 normal pregnant women between 20 and 35 weeks. The ellipsoid formula (X*Y*Z*0.52) was used for volume calculation with the two-dimensional (2D) method. With the VOCALTM (Virtual Organ Computer-aided Analysis) method, a rotation angle of 30° was used. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), paired Student's t-test and Bland-Altman plots were used to compare the techniques. To calculate the intraobserver variability we used the ICC and compared the means between the two measures using the paired Student's p-test.
Results: VOCALTM and 2D methods were highly correlated (ICC=0.919 and 0.873 for the right and left lungs, respectively), however, there was a disagreement. The fetal lung volume means calculated by the 2D method were always overestimated in relation to the means obtained by the VOCALTM, for the right lung (24.02 mL×19.15 mL; P<0.001), as well as for the left (16.03 mL×13.77 mL; P=0.002). As for the intraobserver variability, a good reproducibility was observed for the volume measurement of the left lung by the 2D technique (mean=0.40 mL; P=0.57) and by the VOCALTM (mean=−0.22 mL; P=0.63). The 2D method, however, presented low reproducibility for the right lung (mean=1.73 mL; P=0.31).
Conclusion: The two-dimensional method had low agreement and low reproducibility in relation to the three-dimensional method for measurement of fetal lung volume in normal fetuses.
Journal of Perinatal Medicine, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1619-3997
Volume: 03/2007
Pages: - - -
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