Foetal Kidney Length as a Parameter for Determination of Gestational Age in Pregnancy by Ultrasonography

Abstract

Background: The ability to accurately determine the fetal gestational age, growth and recognize its abnormal patterns, help us to decide if early intervention is necessary in high risk pregnancy or not. Objectives: The aim of this present study to estimate the gestational age in third trimester using mean fetal kidney length. Material & Methods: This cross section hospital based study conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, S.P. Medical College, Bikaner during study period of one year from 2015 to 2016. Pregnant women (n=100) with known dates of different parity and ages were included in this study. The women were evaluated as per history, general physical examination and routine antenatal investigations and using third trimester ultrasonography. Results: In present study, gestational age was ranging from 28 to 40 weeks and their mean kidney length was ranging from 28.00 to 40.00 mm. Maximum number of cases was found in gestational age 36 & 37 weeks (n=17 each) while least common gestational age was 39 & 40 weeks where only 1 patient was found in each. Conclusion: The fetal kidney length increases with each week of gestation. However, large and multicentric studies are required to recommend it.

Foetal Kidney Development and Amniotic Fluid Formation in Upper Egyptian Pregnancies

“…The present work exhibited that the best fit line was with the linear regression equation of: The predicted gestational age from the kidney length = 6.315 + 0.727 X the foetal kidney length ± 1.078. The present finding agrees more or less with Chatterjee et al, [26] and Saxena et al, [5] who reported that the foetal kidney length among Indians could be used as an individual parameter in estimating the gestational age, especially in the later trimesters, where the biometric indices might not be much reliable.…”

“…The crude values of the means of the AFI ± 2SD according to the gestational ages were represented in Chart (4). The 5 th, 50th and 95 th percentiles of the AFI according to the gestational ages after being submitted to a smoothing process using the quadratic polynomial adjustments were shown in Chart (5). The range of the mean ± SD of the AFI increased from 118.32 ±0.4mm at the 14th week to a maximum of 147.16±0.09mm at the 24 th week of gestation.…”

“…The development of the diagnostic ultrasound opened new possibilities for a more confident assessment of dating as reported by Butt and Lim [4] and Saxena et al, [5] . During the first trimester, the kidneys appear as hyperechoic oval structures on both sides of the developing vertebral column.…”

Correlation of Ultrasound Biometric Indices and Renal Length with Gestational Age among Pregnant Women

“…In the present study, renal length shows linear correlation with gestational age between 25-40 weeks. Both the Ruchi Saxena 12 and Manasvi et al 13 study showed that foetal renal length corresponds to gestational age in weeks, but in our study renal length corresponds to weeks only in 25 to 30 weeks of gestation. As the gestation age increases the renal length is more than corresponding gestation in our study, which is similar to many other studies.…”

Role of mean fetal kidney length as an additional parameter in late trimester for accurate estimation of gestational age relative to other biometrics indices

“…Thus, this study suggests 30 weeks was 30.88±1.36 mm, in Kansaria 29.03±1.32 mm, in Saxena et al 29.67±0.51 mm, and Konje it is 30.9±3.2 mm. In this study mean kidney length at 38 weeks was 39.7±2.36 mm in Kansaria 36.25±1.70 mm, in Saxena et al, 37.54±0.54 mm and Konje study 40±2.4 mm 15. …”