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Routine obstetric ultrasound: Effectiveness of cross‐sectional screening for fetal growth retardation
Author(s) -
Ferrazzi Enrico,
Nicolini Umberto,
Kustermann Alessandra,
Pardi Giorgio
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.1870140105
Subject(s) - medicine , ultrasound , biparietal diameter , obstetrics , fetus , abdominal ultrasound , cross sectional study , growth retardation , medical diagnosis , circumference , pregnancy , radiology , birth weight , head circumference , pathology , genetics , biology , geometry , mathematics
Sonographic detection of fetal growth retardation was evaluated on a sample of 778 patients routinely scanned over a 16‐month period. From the 29th week to term, the sensitivity of abdominal circumference measurement progressively increased from 41% to 88% ( P < 0.01). Higher rates were achieved by using the biparietal diameter but false‐positive diagnoses were twice as frequent as with the abdominal measurements. When the limitations in precision of abdominal circumference were considered, the screening rate of this parameter increased about 16%. Moreover, 50% of the falsenegative diagnoses were made on fetuses weighing between the fifth and 10th centiles at birth. These diagnostic indices for biparietal diameter and abdominal circumference evaluated on a retrospective series proved to be lower than those reported for the prospective selected series. However, the results yielded by routine ultrasound were better than those obtained with clinical or traditional biochemical methods. These findings underline the importance of sonography not only in serial control of high‐risk pregnancies but also in cross‐sectional screening programs.