Ultrasonic measurement of fetal body size. A randomized controlled trial.
A total of 745 Caucacian women were allocated at random between two groups, A and B, at the first antenatal visit. At the completion of the study, 341 patients in group A underwent a single ultrasonic measurement of fetal chest area between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation. The medical staff was not informed of these results. Three hundred and sixty-four patients in group B acted as controls. The percentage of clinically detected small-for-dates (S.F.D.'s) was low in both groups, A (36 per cent) and B (42 per cent). The ultrasonic detection rate of the clinically missed S.F.D.'s (group A) was 77 per cent. The clinical detection rate of large-for-dates (L.F.D.'s) was only 12 per cent in group A and 13 per cent in group B. The ultrasonic detection rate of the clinically unrecognized L.F.D.'s (group A) wa 60 per cent.
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011897:Random Allocation; D013909:Thorax / Q000196:embryology; D014463:Ultrasonography