New ultrasound technology and the Internet have allowed Army Spc. Nicholas Weaver to see the baby he has on the way at home while he’s serving in Iraq.

The 20-year-old soldier got a sneak peek of his son in the womb in a sonogram streamed live from a Folsom imaging center. The sharp, 3-D image clearly revealed little Aiden Weaver’s wide eyes, pug nose and tiny fingers. A slight smile crossed his face beneath a full head of hair.

“He looks squished – but adorable,” Weaver said in a computer instant message to his wife, Megan. “He looks a little bit like both of us.”

The expectant mother, who is 32 weeks, she was excited to beam the images to her husband, who is not expected to be home in time for the birth in April.

The dad-to-be began a three-year enlistment last April. He is expected to return home in June, although his commanding officers are working to get him a leave in April to be present for his son’s birth.

Many 3D Ultrasound clinics offer families the opportunity to see their growing relatives over the internet. It is definitely a nice twist that this dad was able to log on from so far away.

Coming to a mall near you!!

Parents-to-be might soon don 3-D glasses in the ultrasound lab to see their developing fetuses in the womb “in living 3-D, just like at the IMAX movies,” according to researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.

The same Duke team that first developed real-time, three-dimensional ultrasound imaging says it has now modified the commercial version of the scanner to produce an even more realistic perception of depth. Paired images seem to pop out of the screen when viewed with the special glasses.

The researchers created an updated version of the image-viewing software found on clinical ultrasound scanners, making it possible to achieve a stereo display with no additional hardware.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time it’s been made possible to display real-time stereo image pairs on a clinical scanner,” said Stephen Smith, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke. “We believe all 3-D scanners could be modified in this way with only minor software changes.”

The new imaging capability can improve the early diagnosis of certain kinds of birth defects of the face and skull and improve surgeons’ depth perception during ultrasound-guided medical procedures, including tumor biopsies and robot-assisted surgeries done through tiny “keyhole” incisions.

The Duke team, which also includes Joanna Noble, an undergraduate student, and Matthew Fronheiser, a graduate student in Smith’s laboratory, reported the findings in an issue of the journal Ultrasonic Imaging dated July 2006, but published in April 2007. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Human depth perception is largely the result of stereo vision — the slightly different perspectives of the same scene that are observed by the left and right eyes, Smith said. The brain processes the information to produce a sense of depth, a phenomenon that can’t be achieved when viewing a single, flat image.

Stereoscopic images solve that problem by taking two “snapshots” of the same object from slightly different angles, mimicking the normal difference between left and right eye views.

Special glasses or goggles can then be used to fuse the two images into one, gaining a 3-D effect. This principle lies behind 3-D movies and the familiar Fisher Price View-Master toy. With practice, some people can “defocus” their eyes and fuse the paired images without the aid of any special viewing device. (Find out how at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy.)

To demonstrate the new capability, the researchers first generated stereo ultrasound images of a small metal cage. They then advanced to ultrasound images in living animals of a heart valve and blood vessels and needle biopsies of the animals’ brains and esophagi.

The researchers have since recorded ultrasound images of a model human fetus that is traditionally used in the testing of fetal ultrasound imaging devices. (Watch the video, including paired images of both the cage and model fetus. See if you can fuse them without goggles.)

“Thousands of 3-D ultrasound systems in clinics could be upgraded with such new software, and stereoscopic goggles could be issued to them as well,” Smith said. “Keepsake DVDs of the fetal exam could also be viewed at home in 3-D stereo.”

The goggles would soon become obsolete, he added. New monitors capable of fusing stereo 3-D images without them are now in development.

SOURCE

Expecting parents always wonder what the the scan tech is looking at when they are doing the ultrasound…now we know!!

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Independent Ultrasound companies are popping up all over the place offering parents a 3/4D view of their unborn child. In July I wrote about these businesses stating that too many ultrasounds are not good for your fetus.

Daily Mail has a story today that say parents are being warned against paying for keepsake baby scans of their child in the womb.

Doctors claim the growing practice of “boutique ultrasonography” could put unborn babies at risk.

Mothers-to-be are routinely offered 2D ultrasound pictures by hospital and clinics but can buy moving images of the foetus on a CD-ROM or a DVD for up to $250.

In advanced 3D scans, ultrasound echoes are digitally enhanced so they create a life-like picture of the unborn baby while 4D shows the foetus moving in real time.

A report in the British Medical Journal says several medical bodies have “reservations” about the “casual exposure” of unborn babies to the technology.

They include the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and the French Academy of Medicine.

The FDA says “Although there is no evidence that these physical effects can harm the foetus, public health experts, clinicians and industry agree that casual exposure to ultrasound, especially during pregnancy, should be avoided.”

There are also concerns about how staff at commercial clinics deal with the discovery of a foetal abnormality, although some doctors offer keepsake images after they have performed ultrasound for medical reasons.

The report says: “Beyond spreading a little happiness, the case for non-medical imaging relies principally on bonding: the sense of attachment between a mother and her unborn child.

“The evidence that ultrasound images can foster this comes from 2D scans, but there is no evidence that 3D scans are more effective in enhancing maternal foetal attachment.”

In the UK, the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) does not have a specific policy on non-medical imaging, but it currently updating its guidance.

Dr Paul Sidhu, chairman of the scientific and education committee of BMUS, detects what he describes as an “overall sense of disapproval” among his colleagues for this development.

He said research is currently under way to find out if viewing the foetus in 3D might help spot abnormalities such as cleft lip.

3/4D Ultrasound machines are for the doctor to take a better look at your baby in case of abnormalities, not for overly eager parents to get a peek before the baby is due. I know it’s tough, but for the health of your baby, you have to wait.

Each mom is given usually 2 ultrasound during her pregnancy. The first one around 10 weeks and then a big one between 18 and 22 weeks to check that the baby is on schedule and growing properly. After that all you have is your imagination.

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