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3D ultrasound, more and more practiced by gynecologists
Gynecologists face a growing demand for three-dimensional ultrasounds, from impatient “patients”! And for good reason: the technique offers a raised image of Baby, very close to reality. If the device is equipped with a 4D probe, the reconstituted fetus even begins to move. Parents can see the facial expressions and gestures he performs in the belly. We are far from the classic medical ultrasound, fuzzy and often difficult to interpret.
Some practitioners have therefore equipped their practice with 3D devices, but no question of abusing it! For Dr Marie-Thérèse Verdys, obstetrician-gynecologist, “the ideal would be to reserve this type of ultrasound in case of suspected physical abnormality during classic 2D ultrasound. ” The 3D echo makes it much easier to explore the anatomy of the fetus. It is particularly effective in the diagnosis of facial malformations, such as harelip.
3D baby, a strange sight
Discovering your baby in three dimensions is first of all full of emotions. But what do future parents really feel during a 3D ultrasound? We have to admit it, three-dimensional images of a fetus are impressive, even frightening ! Dr Marie-Thérèse Verdys, obstetrician-gynecologist, confirms: “future parents often come out of my practice torn between a feeling of joy and anguish. The 3D ultrasound returns, in fact, a portrait of Baby close to that… of a little alien! ”
For or against the 3D echo?
Opinions are divided. Liline, Lenny’s mom, 4 months old, doesn’t see the point of a 3d ultrasound when the baby is healthy: “I prefer very simple echoes, which leave more parents the desire to discover their child at birth ”. Nathalie found that her daughter did not look like the baby discovered a few weeks earlier during the 3D echo. “She was even more beautiful in real life!”
The companion of Carabistouille, he appreciated the vision of the fetus in three dimensions, “Very precise, especially at the level of the hands and feet”. On the other hand, the mother-to-be found that her little one “doesn’t look very human” …
As for Eleanor, she was frightened by the vision of her baby in 3D, “like a wax figure”, and found him very protruding ears. For the next pregnancy, she will do without!
3D ultrasound: and after?
Parents who have received a 3D ultrasound will approve: this imaging technique reassures, clarifies part of the mystery and strengthens emotional bonds that unite them to their baby. The psychologist André Soler * however advises parents “not to remain” fascinated “by the vision of their baby in three dimensions, to devote themselves instead to the emotional relationship they have with him, to feel its manifestations, to provide him with a maximum. of tenderness, because he can perceive it and be reassured by it. “
* author of Obstetric ultrasound explained to parents, Erès editions