Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of prenatal ultrasonography in diagnosis of retroaortic left innominate vein ( LINV ) . Methods Thirty fetus with retroaortic LINV were involved , including 17 cases of isolated retroaortic LINV and 13 cases of complicated retroaortic LINV . Three-vessel and trachea ( 3VT ) view was focused in the routine second trimester ultrasound screening to observe whether LINV existing or not . And then the transducer was rotated to the fetal sagittal view to assess the relationship between LINV and aortic arch and the convergence of left subclavian vein and left internal jugular vein into the LINV . Results The characteristic feature of retroaortic LINV was the LINV converge into right superior vena cava ( SVC) under the aortic arch ,not above the aortic arch . The most important plane to detect the retroaortic LINV was the 3VT view ,which revealed the abnormal vein lying to the left of pulmonary artery . The abnormal vein then could be traced and revealed its connection with the right SVC beneath the aortic arch on the transverse plane inferior to the 3VT view and on the fetal sagittal plane . Conclusions The whole course of retroaortic LINV can be revealed by ultrasound prenatally ,which can not only account for the abnormal vein to the left of pulmonary artery on 3VT view ,but also play an important role in surgery decision and future cardiac intervention treatment .

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of an intelligent three-dimensional ultrasound technique (Smart mid-sagittal planes,Smart MSP) in automatically detecting the fetal cranial mid-sagittal view.Methods Two hundred and forty pregnant women with singleton pregnancies were imaged to display the mid-sagittal view of fetal head using the Smart MSP by six doctors divided into three groups according the different experiences.Another two doctors were then invited to score the images acquired and to compare the successful rates of 6 doctors for acquiring fetal cranial mild-sagittal view according to the doctors' experience.Results The overall successful rate of acquiring the mid-sagittal view was 97.08％ (233/240) with the bipartial diameter plane (BPD plane) as the starting plane and 98.33(237/240) with the trans-cerebellum plane as the starting plane by using Smart MSP program.The successful rates in three groups were similar but the consumed times were different(P ＜0.05).The experienced doctors consumed less time than non-experienced doctors.The scores were also different in three groups.The scores of experienced doctors (group B and C) were significantly higher than that of non-experienced doctors (Group A) (P ＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the scores between experienced doctors (group B and C) (P＞0.05).Conclusions Smart MSP is a novel and feasible method for the automatic visualization of fetal cranial mid-sagittal plane,which may become an effective tool to screen the fetal midline anomalies in future.

Objective: Vascular dilation dysfunction has been linked with risk of cardiovascular disease. This study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between physical activity and vascular dilation function in healthy middle-aged adults to help explaining the effect of physical activity on preventing cardiovascular disease. Method: We recruited 91 healthy middle-aged adults to complete a serf-report 7-day physical activity recall questionnaire and an exam of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation(FMD) and Nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NMD) detected by ultrasound. The relationship between physical activity level (PAL) and FMD and NMD were explored. Result: Physical activity showed a significant and positive relationship with the brachial artery FMD, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors (r=0.363, P<0.01). The group of high physical activity level had the highest FMD. The means of FMD (%) in low, moderate and high PAL groups were respectively 8.70%±3.93%,9.01%±3.22% and 12.38±5.67% with significant difference between individuals of low and high PAL and between moderate and high PAL group(P<0.01). The means of NMD (%) is 25.13%±6.52%,24.38%±5.44% and 29.50%±7.25% respectively (P> 0.05) and there was no significant difference among three groups. There was no positive relation between PAL and FMD in premenopausal females but in men and postmenopausal females. Although individuals of high PAL have the best FMD, the moderate PAL can also retard FMD decrease with ageing. Conclusion: Maintaining high physical activity level can enhance endothelial-dependent vascular dilation, and moderate or high physical activity level can prevent endothelial-dependent vaseular dilation declining with aging, which may contribute to decrease risk of cardiovascular disease in healthy middle-aged adults.

Objective To evaluate the values of prenatal surveillances of ultrasonography in twin pregnancies with amniotic fluid discordance. Methods Two hundred and seventy cases of diamniotic twins were included. Both postnatal outcomes and prenatal amniotic fluid discordant variations were analyzed,and the incidences of amniotic fluid discordance were compared between the monochorionic-diamniotic(MCDA)and dichorionic-diamniotic (DCDA) gruop. Results Twenty four cases of twins with amniotic fluid discordance were found in the study. The incidence of amniotic fluid discordance in MCDA group was much higher than that in DCDA group (28.9% vs 5.6%, P ＜0. 001 ) ,and 24 cases of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) were diagnosed in the former group and none were found in the latter group. Downward tendency of amniotic fluid discordance was shown in non-TTTS cases of MCDA group. Compared with TTTS cases, the postnatal outcomes of non-TTTS cases with amniotic fluid discordance were much better in MCDA group ( P ＜0.001 ). Conclusions TTTS and MCDA twins with amniotic fluid discordance may overlap each other in the early stage. Serial surveillances of ultrasonography are necessary for prenatal differentiating twin pregnancies complicated by amniotic fluid discordance,and providing strong support to clinical treament.