Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Fetal Sacral Length: Correlation with Gestational Age

Abstract

Introduction: Obstetricians need an accurate estimate of gestational age to decide when to terminate the pregnancy and how to deliver the baby. When unreliable menstrual history cannot be used to determine gestational age, ultrasonography comes in handy. Ultrasonography has been used to determine gestational age using a variety of parameters. However, all of these parameters are only reliable in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. They become less reliable as the pregnancy progresses, due to a variety of factors, with a maximum variability of about 3 to 3.5 weeks in the third trimester. Methods: A total of 200 pregnant women participated in this prospective observational study at the Department of Radiology and Imaging, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine, and Metabolic Disorders. The research was carried out between January 2001 and December 2002. Result: The participants' average age was 24.54 years. Only 3% of the participants were in the oldest age range of 36-40 years, with 38 percent of the participants being between the ages of 21 and 25. The average height of the participants was 150-154 cm in 52 percent of the cases. The mean SD height and weight were 152.40±3.44 cm and 54.80±4.45 kg, respectively. There is a strong positive relationship between fetal sacral length and gestational age, according to BPD and FL. The relationship between gestational age and fetal sacral length was demonstrated to be statistically significant. There was no statistically significant relationship between fetal sacral length and maternal height. Conclusion: Fetal sacral length is well related to gestational age. If sacral length is measured accurately with a high-resolution ultrasound scanner, it can be used reliably as an additional parameter throughout pregnancy in conjunction with other established parameters.