Premium
Correlation Between the Thymic‐Thoracic Ratio and Cardiac Axis in Healthy Fetuses
Author(s) -
Zhao Ge,
Liu Jing,
Meng Tao
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.1002/jum.14463
Subject(s) - medicine , fetus , gestation , pregnancy , gestational age , anatomy , cardiology , biology , genetics
Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between the thymic‐thoracic ratio and cardiac axis in healthy fetuses. Methods The fetal thymic‐thoracic ratio and cardiac axis were measured in 220 healthy fetuses. The normal ranges of the fetal thymic‐thoracic ratio and cardiac axis for each gestational week were established. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to analyze the relationship between the thymic‐thoracic ratio and cardiac axis. Results The mean fetal thymic‐thoracic ratio increased slightly throughout the pregnancy, from 0.33 at 17 weeks' gestation to 0.37 at 37 weeks. No statistically significant correlation was found between the thymic‐thoracic ratio and cardiac axis in healthy fetuses. Conclusions In healthy fetuses, the thymus occupies an increasingly larger portion of the upper mediastinum when the pregnancy advances. The cardiac axis is not affected by the thymic‐thoracic ratio in healthy fetuses.