Diagnostic performance of two ultrasound techniques for the detection of cleft palate without cleft lip: axial-transverse and equal sign

- OBJECTIVE: There is no study that compares the diagnostic performance of ATV and ESV techniques in detecting cleft pal-ate. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accu-racy of two ultrasound techniques: axial -trans-verse (ATV) and equal sign view (ESV), in de-tecting fetal cleft palate without cleft lip.PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted from March 2019 to Janu-ary 2022 in a tertiary referral hospital. Second-ary palates were assessed with ATV and ESV by two experienced fetal medicine specialists who were blinded to each other's ultrasound find-ings. Final diagnosis was done according to postnatal physical examination. The sensitivity and specificity of the two techniques were cal-culated.RESULTS: A total of 311 pregnancies which met the study criteria were evaluated. Postnatal physical examination showed that 13 (0.4%) ne-onates had cleft palate only (CPO). According to final diagnosis the sensitivity, specificity, posi-tive predictive value and negative predictive val-ue for ATV were 100%, 98.7%, 76.4%, 100% and 100% for ESV were 76.9%, 97.8%, 58.9% and 99%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: ATV in 2D ultrasound pro-vides higher sensitivity and specificity than ESV in detecting CPO.

Automated summary

This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of two ultrasound techniques (ATV and ESV) in detecting cleft palate without cleft lip. The results showed that ATV has higher sensitivity and specificity.