IC118: Ultrasound of First Trimester Anomalies Including Nuchal Translucency (Beryl R. Benacerraf, MD); Ectopic Pregnancy: Advanced Ultrasound Analysis (Roy A. Filly, MD)

The 2008 ARRS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, on April 13-18, will feature an instructional course on ultrasound anomalies of pregnant patients (IC118). The first part of the course features Beryl R. Benacerraf, MD, a professor of radiology and a professor of OB GYN at Harvard Medical School and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Ultrasound Medicine. She will be presenting her lecture, “Ultrasound of First Trimester Anomalies Including Nuchal Translucency.”

This part of the instructional course will describe the detection of fetal anomalies in the first trimester of pregnancy and, in particular, the method by which Down’s syndrome can be detected sonographically.

“The first trimester nuchal translucency test to determine a women's risk for carrying a fetus with Down syndrome can be established in the first trimester. This test has completely changed the way prenatal screening is done and has reduced the need for amniocentesis dramatically,” said Dr. Benacerraf.

The topic is of great relevance to the ultrasound community. The concepts outlined in this presentation are being implemented everywhere, and anyone performing ultrasound should be aware of these new guidelines and methods.

The second part of IC118 is “Ectopic Pregnancy: Advanced Ultrasound Analysis.” This presentation features Roy A. Filly, MD, who is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco.

This part of the course deals with some of the topics that have been discussed in the literature but seldom find their way into instructional courses. According to Dr. Filly, these case analysis features can be confusing if not explained, but once understood can be extremely useful.

“This lecture deals with important and common diagnostic problems. Ectopic pregnancy is the second most common pathologic reason clinicians order sonograms in the first trimester of pregnancy and the leading cause of death of young women in the first trimester of pregnancy,” said Dr. Filly.

The audience should come away with this course with a greater diagnostic confidence the next time they encounter patients who are suspected of harboring an ectopic pregnancy. “It’s a problem that all women's imagers face on a daily basis, so they need to have a very sound foundation in the diagnostic processes that surround this pathologic entity,” said Dr. Filly.

IC118, including both Dr. Benacerraf’s and Dr. Filly’s lectures, takes place on Monday, April 14, at 4:15 pm. For more information about the 2008 ARRS Annual Meeting, visit www.arrs.org/meetings/ano8/