Basics of 3D and 4D fetal echocardiography using spatial and temporal image correlation (STIC) software

Spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) is a new 3D technique allowing the acquisition of a volume of the beating fetal heart. It is the first reliable technique allowing a routine 4D fetal echocardiography. This paper reviews the principles of this new technique and its potential. Once a volume is acquired and stored, it can be rendered in different display modes. The volume information can be displayed as a multiplanar image (A, B, & C planes) and allows the visualisation of an "anyplane". The information in the volume can be used to reconstruct a 3D rendering of the heart according to an examiner-defined volume of interest. Some of these rendering modes are explained in this paper, such as surface rendering, minimum mode, inversion mode and glass body mode (combination of STIC with colour or power Doppler).