title: Macrosomatia and ultrasonography: what is the problem?
abstract: It has been claimed that sonographic techniques offer no advantages over palpation of the maternal abdomen for detection of macrosomatia. We studied a group of 498 pregnant patients, 36 (7.2%) of whom gave birth to infants having macrosomatia. A sensitivity of 67%, specificity of 97%, and positive predictive value of 67% was obtained using our method without significant systematic error. Three problems that could reduce the value of ultrasonography in the detection of macrosomatia were detected: (1) use of equations with systematic errors; (2) human bias; and (3) use of ultrasonography machines/transducers with insufficient capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City 73190.
authors.forename: I K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Rossavik
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Joslin
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D015982:Bias; D001724:Birth Weight; D001835:Body Weight; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005320:Fetal Macrosomia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005333:Fetus; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008433:Mathematics; D008598:Menstruation; D010173:Palpation / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*