The use of the abdominal circumference as a means of assessing M-mode ventricular dimensions during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy in the normal human fetus.
Eighty-two normal fetuses were scanned from 18 to 41 weeks of gestation. The following M-mode measurements were correlated with the abdominal circumference: diastolic biventricular outer (r = 0.951) and inner (r = 0.948) dimensions; diastolic right (r = 0.942) and left (r = 0.925) internal dimensions; tricuspid (r = 0.916) and mitral (r = 0.900) valve opening excursions; and right (r = 0.774), left (r = 0.731), and interventricular septal (r = 0.753) wall thickness. Polynomial regression demonstrated that linear regression best described the data from which the mean and 5 per cent and 95 per cent confidence limits for predicted M-mode measurements were computed for the abdominal circumference between 12 and 35 cm.
D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005333:Fetus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005865:Gestational Age; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D012015:Reference Standards; D014463:Ultrasonography