4D scanning and my beautiful unborn baby's face!

[The Grave]

Recently I surprised my wife with a 4D scan of our baby at 30 weeks.

An astonishing sight to behold the face of the unborn! The images were great the cost £196 but the experience...unforgettable.:)

If there are any skeptics of the religious kind out there who can't see what science can give the human race then try a 4D scan !

I suppose the god-equivalent would be to give women transparent bellies...:rolleyes:

Griff

[jmercer]

What's a 4D scan? Three dimensional, I get... but four dimensional?

(ETA: I found one - it's amazing stuff!!!!)

[MortFurd]

Wow! (http://www.babybond.com/4dgallery.html) Really amazing.

[athon]

What's a 4D scan? Three dimensional, I get... but four dimensional?

(ETA: I found one - it's amazing stuff!!!!)

You get to see the entire life of the baby in one shot, from conception into the future. That way you know whether to get a good tutor or a good lawyer.

Athon

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Is it a secret? Give us a link!

~~ Paul

[Orangutan]

What's a 4D scan? Three dimensional, I get... but four dimensional?

(ETA: I found one - it's amazing stuff!!!!)

unless they are using holographic technology any image is going to be 2D.

Actually I think they claim a Z axis as they can set the depth of the scan, This can be a bit scary as you can effectively "Chop off" bits of the baby in the image and see into it's head and things.

I think the 4th dimension is the fact that it is not a static image but an updated picture, I.E. they are claiming time as the final dimension.

Yeah I hate the name too.

[toddjh]

Yeah, shouldn't this be "3D scanning?"

[MortFurd]

Is it a secret? Give us a link!

~~ Paul
There's a link in my first post.

4D because it shows a time lapse picture sequence of a 2D representation of the 3D surface of the baby. It actually scans the outside of the kid in three dimensions, then gives you a flat picture of it (computer monitors not being real good at doing 3D.)

[Orangutan]

There's a link in my first post.

4D because it shows a time lapse picture sequence of a 2D representation of the 3D surface of the baby. It actually scans the outside of the kid in three dimensions, then gives you a flat picture of it (computer monitors not being real good at doing 3D.)

Yes but using that logic all cinema is 3d. X Y and time. And 3D movies are actually 4D?

;)

[Starthinker]

Now your kid will be born with six arms or something unless you get a 4D scan de-magnetizing homeopathic quantum dot, which I happen to sell. PM me for details.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

There's a link in my first post.
You people and your cutesy little girlie links.

Cool!

~~ Paul

[Madalch]

That is cool.

To add something to the thread that's relevant, my wife and I were looking at the old-fashioned 2D ultrasounds of the twins recently. It was actually amazing how easy it was to tell William from Alexander- they're as far from identical as they can be (apart from being both blond boys).

William, however, is particularly blond. We don't give them chocolate (apart from at Easter), but my sister gave him a smartie (like an M&M, if you don't have smarties in your country) the other day, and he tried to peel it.

[Lisa Simpson]

We had a traditional ultrasound done of son #2 the day before he was born. I commented to the technician that he looked like a Klingon. She didn't find it funny.

I would have loved to have one of these new-fangled ultrasounds, but we didn't have them back then (11-17 years ago).

[Azure]

Wow.

That is cool indeed.

[grmcdorman]

The technology has been around for a while; the 3D reconstruction is exactly the same as is done for CT, MR and other modalities. The reason it hasn't been very common for US (ultrasound) is that multiple images (called slices) are needed, and the position of each needs to be known (relative to each other). Most 3D reconstruction also requires the slices to be parallel.

US, historically, has been free-hand, so not only are the positions of the images not known, but they're not parallel.

There has been some debate as to the value of this: as with any medical procedure, one needs to question the need v.s. the side effects. While there are no known side effects to US, I don't think it is a well studied area. In this case, where a more extended US session would be needed, the benefit to this - pretty pictures for the parents - is not justifiable from a medical standpoint.

The '4D' term, by the way, is just marketroid speak. It isn't used in the industry that I'm aware of.

- Grant McDorman, who works on medical imaging software

[Aurelian]

Yep. This is definitely cool science. Our eldest are teens, and they were completely enraptured by a REGULAR sonogram (but thought they would be bored before the experience). The pictures just don't do justice to the experience.

And congratulations on the little one! Best wishes for a healthy mom and baby!

A

[Soapy Sam]

False colour?

[grmcdorman]

False colour?It's an arbitrary colour ramp. These images, without exception, are not taken with light, so there is no colour (at least as we define it) to begin with.

Most modalities - CT [which uses x-rays], MRI [magnetic resonance], and US [ultrasound, which is what's being displayed here] are displayed in the traditional grey scale, like old x-rays. Doppler US and PET [Positron Emission Tomography] tend to use an arbitrary colour range; an example can be seen in the Wikipedia article. fMRI [functional MRI] can use either.

The "brightness" of a pixel is called density in all the modalities, as far as I know (again, based on the X-ray antecedent, where brighter spots on the film corresponded to denser anatomy, like bone).

Here, the colour is probably chosen both for aesthetics and visibility.

[The Grave]

Here in the UK the 4D scan has been available for about 2.5 yrs since we couldn't have it (didn't know it existed) for our 1st. I first saw it on TV then looked into it and got it sorted on BUPA, privately, in Bristol UK.

I have to say that for ~£200 it was money well spent, as this type of technology brings the child-bond-mother/dad closer, sooner. We swam with dolphins in Florida-Sea World- but that was...once done is enough...but I'd pay for a 4D scan again.

Griff...perhaps I'll try to post a couple of photos...when I get them back off the mother-in-law....

[TX50]

These baby-pictures can easily be faked. All you'd need is a supply of B&W photos of Winston Churchill :D

[Starthinker]

Will that work on refridgerators so you can see what's inside without opening the door?

[Madalch]

These baby-pictures can easily be faked. All you'd need is a supply of B&W photos of Winston Churchill
The cigar's a dead giveaway.

[EatatJoes]

I had one done of my child. It was awesome. I think we "only" paid $200 for an hour session, about 70 photos and a video of the whole thing. Cool stuff.

[The Grave]

A see-through fridge...bang goes the diet!

$200 ~ £100 I'm a victim of "Rip-off Britian" once again!

Griff...