Open Journal of Medical Imaging, 2014, 4, 126-132
Published Online September 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojmi
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojmi.2014.43018
How to cite this paper: Falatah, H.A., Awad, I.A., Abbas, H.Y., Khafaji, M.A., Alsafi, K.G.H. and Jastaniah, S.D. (2014) Accura-
cy of Ultrasound to Determine Gestational Age in Third Trimester. Open Journal of Medical Imaging, 4, 126-132.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojmi.2014.43018
Accuracy of Ultrasound to Determine
Gestational Age in Third Trimester
Hebah A. Falatah
1
, Ibrahim A. Awad
1
, Hanan Y. Abbas
1
, Maway A. Khafaji
2
,
Khalid G. H. Alsafi
2
, Saddig D. Jastaniah
1*
1
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah, KSA
2
Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, KSA
Email:
*
sjastaniah@kau.edu.sa
Received 27 June 2014; revised 28 July 2014; accepted 28 August 2014
Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Rapid and accurate determination of gestational age (GA) may be vital to the appropriate care of
the critically ill pregnant patient and improve obstetric care through allowing the optimal timing
of necessary interventions and the avoidance of unnecessary ones. Ultrasound scans are consi-
dered to be the most cost-effective, accurate and safe methods for measurement of various fetal
parts in pregnant women. The aim of this research is to explore the accuracy of ultrasound in de-
termining gestational age of fetus in third trimesters. Data collected for all pregnant women re-
ferred to the Maternity & Children’s Hospital in Jeddah. Only women with single live fetus were in-
cluded in this study. Women who participated in the study were selected on following criteria:
Regular menstrual cycles, known date of last menstrual period and previous live normal neo-
nates in multipara. All scans were performed by a single ultrasonologist on one ultrasound ma-
chine. From collected data, it was found that out of 53 (100%) patients, 44 (84.62%) pregnant
woman have different gestational age from US and last menstrual period (LMP). From this study
we can conclude that the main method to follow fetus growth in third trimester not biparietal di-
ameter (BPD) measurement only. The BPD in third trimester is not reliable and be useless when
the patient pass 30 weeks and the BPD has to be side with other measurements when we take it in
later trimesters to emphasize the normal growth of fetus and avoid wrong measurement of ultra-
sound.
Keywords
Ultrasonography, GA, BPD, Third Trimester
*
Corresponding author.