A computer-guided imaging system for prenatal screening and comprehensive diagnosis of fetal abnormalities.

Ultrasound is a powerful tool and the mainstay of fetal imaging. However, the detection rate for many congenital abnormalities from the national screening programme is around 50%. In this application we propose the development of new computer guided ultrasound technologies, which will allow screening of fetal abnormalities in an automated and uniform fashion. The novelty in our approach is to use multiple ultrasound probes that can simultaneously acquire large 3-D datasets and be guided automatically to acquire the optimal data. This then allows the application of image processing techniques to improve the ultrasound image quality and the use of population-based atlases to identify different organs and systems of the fetus and help differentiate between normality and abnormality. This will be a radical change to fetal screening, largely removing the need for expert ultrasonographers to acquire and interpret the images. It will allow the initial screening scans to be done in a few minutes, and provide a consistently higher detection rate for major abnormalities, which is not subject to regional variation. In addition, the high quality 3D imaging phenotype of the placenta, amniotic fluid and fetus, could be used across large population studies linked to genetic and environmental factors.