A prospective longitudinal study of normal reference ranges for the length of fetal limb bones by ultrasound examination / 대한산부인과학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To establish the reference ranges for the length of fetal limb bones (femur, tibia, fibula, humerus, ulna, radius, foot) at 12 to 38 weeks' gestation. METHODS: The candidates of this prospective longitudinal study were 43 consecutive women with uncomplicated singleton gestations who initially had antenatal care from the first trimester of pregnancy and follow-up regularly. We performed serial measurements of each limb bone and foot bone length by ultrasound examination every 4 weeks until 28 weeks, and then by 2 weeks until 36 weeks, and weekly thereafter. RESULTS: A total of 2,633 and 321 of fetal limb and foot bone lengths were measured. The reference ranges for the length of limb bones and foot length were presented as mean, 95% confidence interval of the means and in percentile. CONCLUSIONS: Our study results are represented as percentile tables for each of the limb bone length. These results can be provided as standardized data of the fetal limb bone length to distinguish from skeletal dysplasia and may well be suggested as the reference guideline for normal fetal limb bone length in Korea.