It’s widely available, yet widely underutilized in gynecology. Despite overwhelming research affirming the power of 3D ultrasound, it hasn’t been adopted as the ‘go to’ tool for evaluating women’s reproductive anatomy. The idea is to provide a more complete picture of her health—and give her the answers she’s looking for.

The main advantage—the ability to acquire and process volume data to obtain views that aren’t available with traditional 2D ultrasound. With the advancement of 3D technology, you can go beyond the flat, 2D images of the sagittal and transverse planes to reconstruct the coronal plane, for a more realistic representation of your patient’s internal organs and related pathology. This view provides additional diagnostic information for a more complete evaluation—increasing your confidence in critical clinical decisions.

“3D ultrasound can get you to a more accurate diagnosis with less differential diagnostic entities. And it’s faster so you can get a timely diagnosis,” said renowned gynecologist, Ilan Timor-Tritsch.

According to research, 3D is more sensitive and specific than 2D ultrasound in defining and mapping out uterine lesions that can cause infertility, including adenomyosis and fibroids.1 Studies also show that the sensitivity and specificity of 3D ultrasound is reported to be close to 100 percent for diagnosing congenital uterine anomalies, comparable with those of MRI and laparoscopy.^{1 ,2, 3}

Timor-Tritsch was one of the first physicians in the field to adopt 3D ultrasound and has worked closely with GE Healthcare to enhance its Voluson™ systems. Dr. Timor-Tritsch appreciates many of the features that have been added over the years.

One valuable innovation is Voluson’s Advanced VCI (Volume Contrast Imaging) with OmniView. The tool improves contrast resolution and visualization in any image plane, even irregularly shaped structures—making it easier to confirm a presumptive diagnosis.

Clinicians can also take advantage of Voluson’s TUI (Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging), which simultaneously displays multiple slices of a volume data set. The ability to systematically step through the endometrium also makes it easier to uncover even the smallest pathologies—such as a small lesion that could affect fertility.

“With 3D, you have the thick slice coronal view of the uterus. We can look at the borders of the endometrium echo. That tells us quite a lot,” Timor-Tritsch said.

Another Voluson feature, called VOCAL (Virtual Organ Computer-Aided Analysis), enables volume calculations of irregularly shaped and complex anatomic structures, typically found in endometriosis imaging. It also helps differentiate organs that are tethered together—providing a valuable guide for surgeons.

And 3D ultrasound is critical to the IVF process. Gynecologists and fertility specialists can automatically count and measure follicles with SonoAVCfollicle. Accuracy is so important because it allows optimization of the number of eggs that can be retrieved. 3D ultrasound has been shown to increase the exam reproducibility of measurement and evaluation.^4,5 It also allows for the standardization of ultrasound exams through the automated multi-planar approach.^6,7

Despite all the advantages of 3D ultrasound, many clinicians see the learning curve as a major obstacle and fear it will make them less efficient. But many experts say it’s the opposite—and 3D can speed up the process and enhance workflow. Dr. Timor-Tritsch has developed his educational lectures to reinforce that message.

“I show five places 3D ultrasound has shortened my time to diagnosis. And there’s no question it can help your confidence. I think it’s convincing. I can’t predict the future, but I’m hopeful it helps.”