{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,9]],"date-time":"2026-03-09T11:46:44Z","timestamp":1773056804780,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,18]],"date-time":"2023-08-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1692316800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Second-trimester 2D ultrasound (US) assessment of the fetal anatomy, as proposed by worldwide guidelines, allows detecting the majority of fetal malformation. However, the detection rates of fetal facial anomalies seem to still be low, mostly in cases of isolated facial malformation. The purpose of this research was to assess and analyze the concordance between the antenatal imaging findings from second-trimester US screening and the results of fetal postmortem autopsy. Between January 2010 and January 2020, there were 43 cases where fetuses with prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of a face abnormality, associated or not with a genetic syndrome or chromosomal disorder, following intrauterine death (IUD) or termination of pregnancy (TOP) after the 13 weeks of pregnancy, underwent autopsy in the Pathological Anatomy section of Bari Polyclinic specializing in feto-placental autopsies. The diagnosis of the fetal facial defects at ultrasound was compared with the findings at autopsy in all cases. A very high level of agreement between prenatal ultrasound and autopsy findings was found for facial abnormalities associated with genetic syndromes or numerical abnormality of chromosomes. A lower level of concordance was instead found in isolated facial defects or those associated with other organ anomalies, but not associated with genetic syndrome or numerical chromosome anomaly. A detailed examination of aborted fetuses led to successful quality control of early-second-trimester ultrasound detection of facial anomalies; however, it was less accurate for the isolated ones. It is, thus, reasonable to propose a systematic early-second-trimester prenatal ultrasound screening for facial anatomy by operators specialized in fetal medicine field, using 2D, 3D, and 4D techniques (two-, three-, and four-dimensional ultrasound).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm12165365","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,18]],"date-time":"2023-08-18T09:13:44Z","timestamp":1692350024000},"page":"5365","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Efficacy of Systematic Early-Second-Trimester Ultrasound Screening for Facial Anomalies: A Comparison between Prenatal Ultrasound and Postmortem Findings"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7732-2003","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bruno","family":"Lamanna","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"},{"name":"Fetal Medicine Research Institute, King\u2019s College Hospital, London SE5 9RS, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3522-4648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miriam","family":"Dellino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1287-4285","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eliano","family":"Cascardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy"},{"name":"Pathology Unit, FPO-IRCCS Candiolo Cancer Institute, 10060 Candiolo, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mia","family":"Rooke-Ley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fetal Medicine Research Institute, King\u2019s College Hospital, London SE5 9RS, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4771-6287","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marina","family":"Vinciguerra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0325-4316","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gerardo","family":"Cazzato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Jonic Area, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Malvasi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2824-5435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amerigo","family":"Vitagliano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pierpaolo","family":"Nicol\u00ec","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Di Cosola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Via Rovelli 50, 71122 Foggia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8758-1415","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Ballini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Via Rovelli 50, 71122 Foggia, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania \u201cLuigi Vanvitelli\u201d, 80138 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2390-4582","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ettore","family":"Cicinelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9862-1619","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonella","family":"Vimercati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Precision and Regenerative Medicine and Jonic Area, University of Bari \u201cAldo Moro\u201d, 70121 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"398","DOI":"10.1148\/radiol.2322030504","article-title":"Fetal anomalies: Comparison of MR imaging and US for diagnosis","volume":"232","author":"Frates","year":"2004","journal-title":"Radiology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4370","DOI":"10.1080\/14767058.2020.1849121","article-title":"Ultrasonic assessment of cesarean section scar to vesicovaginal fold distance: An instrument to estimate pre-labor uterine rupture 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