European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: For the management of obstetric cases, it is very important to know the
EDD. But in our set up most of the women do not know the date of LMP and hence it is
difficult to predict the EDD. Therefore, ultrasound examination plays an important role
in determining the EDD.
Aims: To formulate the ideal length of fetal kidney to the corresponding gestational age
and to study of echo pattern of fetal kidney and its correlation with pregnancy outcome.
Materials and methods: 200 pregnant women with known LMP were taken for the
study. Gestational age by LMP was calculated and it ranged from 20 weeks to 40 weeks.
All the cases were subjected to ultrasound examination. Besides other information
through USG, special emphasis was made to calculate USG gestational age by
conventional method of measuring BPD. FL. AC. At the same time the renal length and
renal medullary echo pattern was examined in all the cases. The cases were grouped
according to the gestational age by LMP and mean renal length was calculated for each
gestational age group.
Results: It was observed that there was a wide variation in renal length for the
gestational age group of 20-30 weeks. This variation narrowed down from the 30-40
weeks of gestational age group. There was a definite correlation between the renal
length with the gestational age by LMP. It was found that USG with standard
parameters gave ± 3 weeks difference form LMP EDD, whereas the EDD calculated by
renal length gave a difference of ± 2 weeks. The prediction interval was narrowed from
±3 weeks to ± 2 weeks when renal length was used instead of the standard USG
parameters i.e., there was ± 1 week difference between EDD by renal length and EDD
by USG.
Conclusion: Examination of fetal renal medullary echo pattern helps us in identifying
high risk pregnancy associated with intrauterine growth restriction and helps us in
management decisions.