Ultrasound of the fetus is one of the areas of ultrasound diagnostics, mandatory for all pregnant women. The study is carried out to assess the development of the child, exclude and identify pathologies, determine the sex of the unborn baby and the exact gestational age, date of birth.
During such an examination, the state of blood flow in the vessels of the uterus, fetus, and umbilical cord is assessed. The procedure also allows you to determine the exact size of the fetus by ultrasound.
WHO recommends an ultrasound scan for all pregnant women, without exception, at different times. The first scheduled study is carried out no later than the twelve-week period.
To assess the function of the cardiac system, to register on the apparatus the work of the heart, placental circulation, pulsation of the umbilical cord and placenta vessels allows the method of Doppler study of blood vessels. Modern methods of ultrasound examination make it possible to establish even minor defects in the formation and development of the skeleton, genitourinary system, gastric and intestinal systems, central and peripheral nervous systems.
Ultrasound of the heart of the fetus and other organs in the early stages is performed to detect the fetal egg, establish the gestational age, the presence of the yolk sac, the thickness and localization of the chorion. In this case, pathologies such as cystic drift, frozen, tubal pregnancy, chorionic detachment can be determined. Over a three-month period, severe abnormalities of embryonic development, hydrocephalus, and markers of Down syndrome can be established. Certain pathologies make it possible to decide on the advisability of preserving pregnancy, on the prevention and treatment of a detected disease.
The number of studies during pregnancy includes ultrasound of the fetal heart, which allows to establish violations of the development of this most important organ.
As a rule, the baby’s heart begins to really beat in the third week of pregnancy, however, it is possible to determine the heart activity of the future baby only from the sixth week. Although at this time, fixing heart contractions is not an easy task.
Ultrasound of the heart during pregnancy, performed before the seventh week, only in half the cases allows you to determine the heartbeat. Reliable research results can be obtained only in the ninth week. Thus, if there are indications for this procedure in the early stages, transvaginal ultrasound of the fetal heart or Doppler scanning method is performed.
During the procedure, the doctor analyzes the heart rate of the fetus. This frequency is the most important indicator of the development of the unborn child. With a reduced heart rate, there is a threat of termination of pregnancy, and if such a symptom is detected, urgent measures must be taken. In the normal state, the heart rate of contractions is from 110 to 130 beats at 6-8 weeks and up to two hundred beats at 9-10 weeks.
In addition to analyzing the frequency of heart contractions, the doctor performs a study of the general structure of the cardiac system. Due to the fact that in the first months it is difficult to analyze the anatomy of the heart, comprehensive studies begin to be performed from the fourteenth week, the most complete information becomes available from the eighteenth. It is at this time that the structure of the heart can be well considered, because its development reaches the stage when it is possible to assess the state of the atria, ventricles, their septa, cusps of the tricuspid and mitral valves.
At the end of pregnancy, it is already impossible to obtain a high-quality image of an ultrasound of the fetal heart by standard methods, so other methods are used, for example, cardiotocography.