Theestimation of the fetal weight is of major interest in many situations when the
route of delivery has to be determined including breech presentations, diabetes
and suspected macrosomia. In fact, delivery of a macrosomic fetus can be linked
with significant maternal and perinatal morbidity. Detection of the macrosomic
fetus prior to delivery could have a significant impact on reducing that
morbidity. On the other hand, in imminent preterm
birth at the limit of viability between 23(0/7) and 26(0/7) weeks of gestation,
it is crucial to determine fetal weight to help manage expected complications. Moreover,
estimation of fetal weight proved to be useful in prediction of future events
including childhood obesity.
Clinicalestimation and ultrasonographic fetal weight estimation are the 2 methods
commonly used to predict fetal weight. Clinical estimation of fetal weight is a
routine practice in the delivery room. It has an important role in the
assessment and planning of the delivery progress, it allows the clinician to
predict possible complications such as macrosomia and plan for obstetric interventions
where needed.For Sonographic assessment of fetal weight, many formulas are
used. However, they differ in accuracy. In addition, accuracy differs according
to the day of weight estimation. However, it should be noted that high maternal
weight, height, body mass index, multiparty, older maternal age, diabetes, and
fetal male sex were associated with underestimation of Sonographic assessment
of fetal weight.
Ina recent study, comparison between clinical and Sonographic methods showed
significantly better sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of Sonographic
methods when compared with clinical tools. However, in another study no
significant differences were found between clinical and Sonographic methods for
assessment of fetal weight during labor.
No comments:
Post a Comment