[Changes in the intensity of ultrasound echography in the fetal lung in the last trimester as a possible indication of lung maturity].
The maturation of the fetal lungs that is to say the adequate production of surfactant in the fetal alveoles as it is well known, reaches to its end about the 35.-36.th week of gestation. That can be proved by the measurement of the phospholipides in the amniotic fluid L/S ratio (Gluck). In order to find signs of lung maturity by ultrasound we studied fetuses between 25-42th week of gestation. Using an oblique coronal longitudinal scan through the fetal thorax and abdomen the right hemidiaphragm and subjacent liver could be seen. With increasing fetal maturity (32.-35.th week of gestation) lung reflectivity became greater than liver reflectivity at equivalent parts of the ultrasonic beam. After the 36th week of gestation, lung reflectivity was nearly always greater than liver reflectivity as possible sign of fetal lung maturity.
D005260:Female; D005325:Fetal Organ Maturity; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000473:pathology*; D012306:Risk; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
Ultraschallechographische Intensitätsänderung der fetalen Lunge im letzten Trimenon als möglicher Hinweis für die Lungenreifung.