It's the ultrasound study useful for the diagnosis of uterus pregnancy under developmental, to perform a correct dating of pregnancy, to search for early signs of anatomical abnormalities and for the evaluation of indicators (markers) of chromosomal disorder, including the measurement of nuchal translucency (NT).

The best time to perform the ultrasound examination is between 11 weeks and 13 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy.

The nuchal translucency is the thickness found behind the neck of the fetus. It is measured on the median sagittal view of the fetus. This thickness is considered within normal limits, when it is less than 3 mm.
If the nuchal translucency ultrasound shows that it is greater than 3 mm then this condition may involve: malformation syndromes, cardiac or other organ abnormalities, chromosomal abnormalities (i.e., the Down Syndrome, or other more rare diseases).

It's an ultrasound examination, which requires a good deal of experience, in which it's performed a detailed evaluation of biometrics, and the anatomy of the fetus. The main purpose of this examination is to exclude fetal malformations, which requires about an hour. It also performs a flow meter utero-placental study, searching for any abnormalities, predisposing the fetal to growth retardation and the development of gestational hypertension.
The fetal ultrasound examination may be supplemented by measuring trans-vaginal cervix, to identify women at risk of of preterm birth (cervicometry).

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The best time to perform the ultrasound examination is between 19 weeks and 21 weeks of pregnancy.

The accuracy of the examination is not absolute. And only detailed diagnosis allows you to recognize the vast majority of malformations, although not all, probably on the order of 80%. A failed diagnosis can be the consequence of the physical limit in current technology (small flaws, such as cardiac septal defects, or anomalies of the fingers, and especially phalanges, for example, cannot be proven, as well as defects not revealed by ultrasound, such as the isolated cleft palate) or of the general history of the anomaly (some defects, such as abnormalities of the cerebral convolutions, some skeletal dysplasias, intestinal obstructions, certain dysfunctions of the urinary tract) may develop or otherwise clearly manifest themselves only during pregnancy or after the child’s birth. Sometimes the accuracy of ultrasound morphology may be lessened due to certain conditions such as a large thickness of the maternal abdominal wall, lack of amniotic fluid, an unfavorable position of the fetus, twins, rendering the display less than optimal.

It’s an ultrasound examination in which we consider the growth of the fetus and a complete anatomical study to rule out any developmental disorders that cannot be diagnosed using ultrasound morphology. It also studies the umbilical velocimetry to detect any growth retardation.

The best period to perform the examination is between 30 and 34 weeks of pregnancy.

The fetus is defined by its normal size when its weight is placed between the 10th and 95th percentile in the growth curves.

If the weight falls below the 10th percentile, the fetus is considered small for its gestational age, then we speak instead about fetal growth restriction if the weight falls below the 5th percentile. When, however, the fetal weight appears to be above the 95th percentile, then we speak about fetal macrosomy. Both of these conditions, although at the antipodes, require intensive ultrasound monitoring of the fetus and are often associated with systemic diseases such as maternal hypertension, pre-clampsia, gestational diabetes, chromosomal abnormalities, and other related syndromes.

The accuracy of the examination can be often reduced because of the position of the fetus as its size, by now substantial, greatly reduces the ability of movement; between the conditions that reduce the accuracy of the examination for poor visibility; there is also an increased thickness of the maternal abdominal wall, the scarcity of amniotic fluid, and the presence of twins.

The ultrasound examinations to patients from San Marino are reserved at the same time of the routine obstetric checkups. The non-assisted patients, who would like to undergo an obstetric ultrasound, may instead call us at 0549 994506 from Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm and fix an appointment with one of our professional specialists.