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Fetal Weight Prediction by Thigh Volume Measurement With Three-Dimensional Ultrasonography

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chonnam National University Medical School and Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Chonnam National University, the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Chosun University Medical School, Kwangju, Korea; and the Division of Perinatal Medicine, Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, California.

Address reprint requests to: Tae-Bok Song, MD Chonnam National University Medical School Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology 8 Hakdong, Dongku Kwangju, 501-190 Korea E-mail: tbsong{at}chonnam.chonnam.ac.kr

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of a simple method of predicting fetal weight by measuring fetal thigh volume with three-dimensional ultrasonography.

Methods: In 84 pregnant women, fetuses without structural or chromosomal anomalies were studied prospectively and cross-sectionally. Biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL) were measured by two-dimensional ultrasound. Fetal thigh volume was measured by three-dimensional ultrasound, using three cross-sectional images of femur, from proximal, middle, and distal parts of femur diaphysis. Infants were delivered within 48 hours after ultrasound examinations.

Results: Modified thigh volume measurements using three cross-sectional images of femur by three-dimensional ultrasound were correlated strongly with birth weight (R² = 0.921, P < .001). Using linear and polynomial regression, we calculated a new best-fit formula: Birth weight (g) = 165.32 + 28.78 x modified thigh volume (mL). The mean and standard deviation of the residual were 121.8 and 110.4, respectively, in three-dimensional formulas, which were significantly smaller than those of two-dimensional formulas.

Conclusion: Thigh volume measurement using three cross-sectional images of femur by three-dimensional ultrasound was simple, and there was better accuracy with this method than with two-dimensional ultrasound methods for predicting fetal weight during the third trimester of pregnancy.

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