title: Fetal thigh and upper arm volumes by 3D-sonography: comparison between multiplanar and XI VOCAL methods.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare fetal upper arm and thigh volume measurements acquired by three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound using the multiplanar and the eXtended Imaging Virtual Organ Computer-aided AnaLysis (XI VOCAL) methods with different number of sectional planes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study enrolled 40 healthy pregnant women between 20 and 40 weeks of gestation. The volume of fetal limbs was calculated using the multiplanar (with 5.0 mm intervals) and the XI VOCAL (with 5, 10, 15, and 20 slice planes) methods. Comparison between the techniques was made by analysis of variance and Bonferroni statistical tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean fetal upper arm volume measured by the 15 sectional planes XI VOCAL method was lower than the same method using 5 and 10 planes instead (p = 0.025 and 0.039, respectively). Fetal thigh volume showed no statistically significant differences among all studied methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The XI VOCAL using 15 sectional planes method underestimated the fetal upper arm volume by 5 and 10 planes XI VOCAL techniques.
authors: Department of Obstetrics, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors: Luciano M M
authors: LM
authors: Nardozza
authors: Rafael O
authors: RO
authors: Cavalcante
authors: Edward
authors: E
authors: Araujo Júnior
authors: Liliam C
authors: LC
authors: Rolo
authors: Antonio F
authors: AF
authors: Moron