Introduction

There is no doubt that in the last twenty years obstetric diagnosis has been dominated by ultrasound. It is such an essential tool for the obstetrician that apart from a few centres, obstetric ultrasound is mostly out of the hands of radiologists. Obstetricians and gynaecologists have been, and are, leading the way with ultrasound applications and development. One has only to look at transvaginal US (TVUS), colour flow imaging (CFl) and pulsed doppler and 3D imaging to realise that in its obstetric applications US is being pushed to its limits.

There is a danger that obstetricians, having so much satisfaction and control with US, will miss out on the latest upcoming developments especially as there are few radiologists interested in obstetric imaging. For this reason, this chapter is biased towards a radiologist's point of view rather than an obstetrician's in the hope that radiologists currently minimally involved will rekindle their interest in this field.

Con Metreweli