Assessment of fetal tridimensional cerebellar volumes between genders

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: The object of this study was to assess the tridimensional cerebellar volume between genders and its correlation to other fetal growth parameters indices. Methods: The author carried out a cross-sectional and prospective study involving 125 normal pregnant women from 22 to 36 weeks of gestation. The assessment of fetal cerebellar volume was performed through Virtual Organ Computer-aided Analysis. The author also assessed other biometric fetal growth indices: biparietal diameter, occipitofrontal diameter, abdominal circumference, head circumference, femur length, anteroposterior cisterna magna diameter, lateral ventricle atria width and estimated fetal weight and its correla -tion to cerebellar volume. The Mancova analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used with gestational age as independent variable and cerebellar volume as dependent variable. Results: The results showed highly correlating to gestational age, biparietal diameter, occipito-frontal diameter, head circumference, femur length and estimated fetal weight (r-value above 0.90 and p<0.0001). Comparison between gen-ders did not show any significant difference in fetal cerebellar volume throughout pregnancy. Conclusions: The assessment of tridimensional cerebellar volume showed no difference between genders, but there was increasing throughout the pregnancy (p<0.0001). Key words: cerebellar volume, tridimensional ultrasound, fetal gender.