Title: Chart for Sudanese Fetal Age Assessment using Sonographic Fetal Limb Bones Measurements
Authors: Dalia B. A., Mona Ahmed, Ahmed Abukonna
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i12.126
Abstract
A study conducted on140pregnant women referred routinely for routine scan of 14 – 40 weeks’ gestation at ultrasound department of Oma-algora specialize hospital (Aljazeera-Sudan) during the period from June 2016 to February 2017. Sonographic examination was obtained for all participants (140 pregnant ladies) in supine position using ultrasound machine (LOGIQ 100 PRO) with 3.5 MHz convex transducer. Women were selected on the basis of certain last menstrual period, history of regular cycle and at least one ultrasound scan before 16 weeks to confirm gestational age. All long bones (radius, ulna, humerus, tibia, fibula and femur) were measured in a plane such that the bone was as close as possible to a right angle to the ultrasound beam. The values were expressed as means ± 2 standard deviations for each week of gestation. The growth of the fetal limb bones was linear from 14 through 38 weeks' gestation, but the various bones appeared to grow at different rates. The result of the study revealed that growth pattern of long bone length, early fetal development is characterized by accelerated growth of the upper and lower limbs from 14 to 30 weeks followed by a decrease in weekly increment rate. Furthermore the growth of the upper limbs accelerated compared with the lower limbs. All of the limb bone lengths correlate with gestational age and may serve as indicators of skeletal dysplasia.
Keywords: Radius, Ulna,Fibula, Tibia, Gestational age.
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