Ultrasound evaluation of the relation between fetal lateral ventricle diameter and biometric parameters

Abstract

Aim: The study was to assess the correlation between fetal lateral ventricular width and biometric measurements with ultrasound examination. Material and methods: A prospective case-control study on 178 fetuses as the control group with lateral ventricle diameter 4-7.9 mm and 80 fetuses as the case group with lateral ventricle diameter 8-12 mm. The study was done at Shariati hospital, from September 2015 to January 2019. All patients underwent a detailed ultrasound exam according to ISUOG guideline and biometric measurements, including head circumference, biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference, femur length, humerus length, cerebellar diameter, cisterna magna width, average ultrasound gestational age, and estimated fetal weight were done. The atrium of lateral ventricles was measured. Singleton pregnancies without malformations were included. Fetuses with lateral ventricle width above 12 mm or with other cerebral anomalies were excluded. Those patients with lateral ventricle diameter 10-12mm underwent serologic evaluation for TORCH, karyotype study and a multiplanar brain ultrasound exam to asses other neurologic findings, and fetuses with normal karyotype and negative TORCH study were included. At least two follow-up ultrasound examinations at 26-28 weeks of gestational age and 32-34 weeks of gestational age were performed to evaluate ventricle size, and fetuses with lateral ventricle width above 12 mm were excluded. The two groups were matched according to gestational age and fetal gender. Then we compared fetal biometric measurements, mentioned above, in these groups. Results: The mean gestational age in the control group was 20.3 weeks, and in the case group was 20.5 weeks (P>0.05). The mean maternal age, maternal past medical history, obstetrical history, mode of conception, fetal presentation, and fetal gender did not differ between the groups. We compared 187 patients as the control group with 80 patients as the case group at the same gestational age and gender. The mean ventricular width in the case group was 8.6mm, and in the control group was 5.9mm. The study group had significantly larger head circumference (P=0.002), biparietal diameter (P<.001), femur length (P=0.005), and estimated fetal weight (P<.001) compared with the control group. Conclusion: The lateral ventricular width is dependent on other biometric parameters such as head circumference, biparietal diameter, and generally fetal size, and larger ventricle width is associated with larger parameters. This association may be the cause of some isolated mild ventriculomegaly, and isolated mild ventriculomegaly does not necessarily mean a pathological condition.