Oblique Imagery

This week we had a bit of a scare. Laura's OB said that it appeared the baby had some kind of mass in his brain based on an ultrasound the previous week. All of the possible explanations were not desirable: fluid accumulation in the brain, tumor growth, possibly cancerous, or just a malformed brain.

As it turns out, it was none of these. We saw a perinatologist. He saw only normal structures, which is very good. He looked at both the brain & the heart (Collette had VSD). The doctor also explained why they thought there was a defect, and I'll give it a shot at explaining it here.

Since an ultrasound produces a cross-section image, it's hard to get a full picture of 3D being. In this case, the first ultrasound tech, took an oblique image (instead of a Frankfurt plane, perpendicular to the anterior-posterior axis). The lack of symmetry isn't expected when the proper image is in view. Upon review of the tape, and because the doctor assume the proper Frankfurt plane was displayed, they assumed an anatomical abnormality.

At the ultrasound on Wednesday, the doctor found it wasn't an anatomical problem, but rather an imaging one.

Phew. It was a difficult few days there, but we're glad it was just a slanted picture.