ABSTRACT
Echocardiographic techniques for fetal ventricular outflow tract evaluation In the evaluation of the ventricular outflow tracts, the ventricles and great arteries should be identified according to the morphological criteria and the ventriculoarterial connections and great arterial relationship should be evaluated as follows (Figures 25.3 and 25.4):13-18
1. Left ventricular outflow tract view 2. Right ventricular outflow tract view 3. Basal ventricular short-axis view 4. Three-vessel view (3VV)
The left and right ventricular outflow tract views are necessary for determining the ventriculo-arterial (VA) connections. Once the four-chamber view is obtained, the transducer is moved radially around the maternal abdomen, keeping the four-chamber plane in view, until the ventricular septum is aligned perpendicular to the sonographic beam axis. From this particular transducer position, the left ventricular outflow tract view can be obtained simply by rotating the transducer through 40°–50° clockwise or counterclockwise toward the cardiac apex. The transducer is then moved slightly upward until the right ventricular outflow tract view is visualized. It should be noted that the normal right and left ventricular outflow tracts cross each other and cannot be visualized in a single two-dimensional imaging plane (Figures 25.2 through 25.5).
