3D ultrasound is a medical ultrasound technique, often used in obstetric ultrasonography (during pregnancy), providing three-dimensional images of the fetus. 3D Ultrasound or also referred to as Phased Array Ultrasonics is also used extensively in the Non Destructuve Evaluation of materials for purity and failure assesment. Very useful in flaw detection and morphology.

There are several different scanning modes in medical and obstetric ultrasound. The standard common obstetric diagnostic mode is 2D scanning. In 3D fetal scanning, however, instead of the sound waves being sent straight down and reflected back, they are sent at different angles. The returning echoes are processed by a sophisticated computer program resulting in a reconstructed three-dimensional volume image of the fetus’s surface or internal organs, in much the same way as a CT scan machine constructs a CT scan image from multiple x-rays.