Three vessel and trachea view

Last revised by Joshua Yap on 25 Apr 2023

The three vessel and trachea view (also known as 3VT view or arrow view) is one of the fetal echocardiography views.

In this view, aortic and ductal arches are combined into the descending aorta and appear as a V-shaped confluence. Both arches tend to be of similar size and are located towards the left of the trachea. The thymus is also seen.

On color Doppler interrogation, the flow in both arches should be in the same direction. This view allows confirmation of the presence of forward flow in three vessels which are, from left to right, pulmonary artery, ductal arch and aorta. All vessels are of approximately the same diameter. In this view, the trachea lies posterior to the superior vena cava (SVC) and both should be on the right side of the spine and vessels.

This view allows assessment of aortic arch abnormalities (aortic arch hypoplasia, coarctation of the aorta, etc.).

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