The ultrasound measurement of the fetal abdominal circumference used as a parameter in calculating fetal body weight has been suggested being useful in estimating fetal gestaional age. In this study a total of 561 ultrasound measurements of the
fetal
abdominal circumference were analyzed from 13 to 42 weeks' gestation in 561 pregnant Korean women, who had normal pregnancy outcomes, regular menstrual cycle, exactly known last menstrual period and no pregnancy complications such as intrauterine
fetal
growth retardation, pregnancy induced hypertention, and etc. All the patients delivered babies whose birthweight were within the normal range.
@ES The mean and the standard deviation of the abdominal circumference for each gestational week were calculated, and regression analysis were as follows:
@EN 1. The linear linear regression equation of the feral abdominal circumference (AC) for the menstrual ages (MA) was,
AC=-11.76+1.57MA-0.01094(MA)²(R²=0.956, P<0.05)
2. The linear regression equation of the menstrual ages for the fetal abdominal circumference was,
MA=5.63+0. 94 AC+0.00165(AC)²(R²=0.951, P<0.05)
The 2 standard deviation of predicted menstrual ages from the fetal abdominal circumferences was 23.5 days and relatively constant from 13 to 42 weeks' gestation. The fetal abdominal circumference can be a useful parameter to predict fetal
gestational
age especially when there are difficulties in measureing biparietal diameter.
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