FETAL SPINE SEGMENTATION AND ABNOROLITY DETECTION IN FETUS ULTRA SOUND IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

Prenatal screening is an important part of prenatal survey for early detection of fetal abnormalities. Prenatal screening means testing the fetus before. birth (prenatally) to identify whether the fetus has certain abnormalities. Among several methods of prenatal testing, prenatal sonography is an appro- priate and cost-effective screening method for early detection of fetal abnormalities. Sonographic evalu- ation of fetal spine is an important aspect of prena- tal fetal evaluation for both high-risk and low-risk patients. Fetal spine abnormalities can be detected in the second trimester (less than 24 weeks). Early detection of spinal anomalies helps in safer termi- nation of pregnancy. The overall occurrence of spi- nal anomalies in our population undergoing sonographic evaluation was 1 in 426. The fetal spine is very difficult anatomic structure to examine be- cause of its length and is greatly affected by fetal flexion, extension and rotation. The fetal spine is technically difficult to examine because the entire spine must be visualized in axial and sagittal pro- jections.