Femicare, s.r.o., Center of prenatal ultrasonographic diagnostics, Martin, Slovak republic. UVN SNP Ruzomberok, Gynecological and obstetrical department. Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Faculty of Health Care, Ruzomberok, Slovak Republic.

(Edited by Frantisek Grochal)

Case report

A 16-year-old woman (G1P0) with non-contributive history was sent to our office at 22 weeks of gestational age due to "fetal hydrocephalus". Our examination revealed the primary cause of the cerebral ventricular dilatation - thoraco-lumbar spina bifida aperta.

Here are some of the images that we obtained.

Images 1, 2: 22 weeks of gestational age; Images show transverse scan of the fetal head at the level of abnormally shaped cerebellum "banana sign" - depicted in blue on the image 2.

Image 3: 22 weeks of gestational age; the image shows transverse scan of the fetal head with dilated lateral cerebral ventricles.

Images 4, 5, and 6: 22 weeks of gestational age; images show coronal (images 4, 5) and sagittal (image 6) scans of the fetal spine at the level of the lumbar spina bifida.

Images 7, 8: 22 weeks of gestational age; 3D transverse scans of the fetal head showing dilated lateral cerebral ventricles.

Images 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13: 22 weeks of gestational age; the images show detailed 3D view of the spinal defect at the level of the thoraco-lumbar spina bifida (the spinal defect is labeled by red arrows on the image 10; normal vertebrae are labeled by green arrows). The image 12 represents a fusion of the image 11 with a drawing depicting approximal position of the thoraco-lumbar spinal defect. The images are adjusted using the MagiCut function of the machine.

Images 14, 15, 16, and 17: 22 weeks of gestational age; the images show 3D image of the lumbar spina bifida using the classical 3D render mode (images 14, 15) and the VCI-Omni View Acquisition (images 16, 17).