Prenatal diagnosis of isolated lateral facial cleft by ultrasonography and three-dimensional printing: A case report

Figure 1 Ultrasonographic findings of the patient. A and B: In the nostril-lip coronal plane of two-dimensional ultrasonography, asymmetry of the oral commissures was revealed, and left commissure widening was identified (arrow); C and D: In the left oblique-coronal section, a cleft at the left oral commissure was detected, which extended to the left cheek, and enlarged with mouth movements (arrow); E: In the surface rendering mode of three-dimensional ultrasonography, the result showed left lateral facial cleft, extending from the left oral commissure to the left cheek.

Figure 2 The creation of three-dimensional-printed models of the fetus' face. A: The output file of the standard tessellation language software was created based on the data acquired from three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound; B and C: The 3D-printed model of the fetus' face shows the left lateral facial cleft, which can be observed in several angles.

Figure 3 Pathological examination findings. A: In the frontal view, the cleft extends from the left oral commissure to the left cheek; B and C: In the lateral view, the right face is normal, the lateral facial cleft on the left face extends to the left cheek, and a skin tag is identified anterior to the left external ear, which was not detected on ultrasonography (arrow); D: The posterior view is unremarkable. After parental counseling, the parents made an informed choice to terminate the pregnancy.