International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | May 2017 | Vol 5 | Issue 5 Page 1869 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Peter M et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017 May;5(5):1869-1873 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Fetal kidney length as a parameter for determination of gestational age from 20 th week to term in healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancy Monalisa Peter 1 *, Ajit Kumar Nayak 1 , Prajna Paramita Giri 2 , Manju Kumari Jain 1 INTRODUCTION The first and foremost duty of an obstetrician is to date the pregnancy failing which can result in iatrogenic prematurity or post maturity of fetus leading to perinatal morbidity and mortality. The last two decades have seen a tremendous progress in application of ultrasound as a diagnostic modality to establish GA. Various sonographic biometric parameters commonly used are Crown rump Length (CRL), Biparietal diameter (BPD), Head circumference (HC), Abdominal circumference (AC) and Femur length (FL). Conditions like oligohydramnios, multiple gestation, breech presentation, polyhydramnios and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) can affect the BPD, AC, FL measurements. As the pregnancy advances these parameters become increasingly unreliable in prediction of GA. 1 Therefore accurate estimation of GA in late 2nd and ABSTRACT Background: Accurate assessment of gestational age is pivotal to give quality maternity care. Ultrasonographic fetal biometry is the most widespread method used to establish GA. Sonographic biometric parameters commonly used are Crown rump Length (CRL), Biparietal diameter (BPD), Head circumference (HC), Abdominal circumference (AC) and Femur length (FL). Fetal Kidney Length (FKL) is one of nontraditional parameter and more accurate method of GA estimation than BPD, FL, HC and AC after 24th week of gestation. This study evaluates role of FKL in estimation of GA and compared its accuracy with other established biometric indices. Methods: Present study is a cross sectional study and includes healthy women who were certain of their LMP with prior regular menstrual cycles with uncomplicated pregnancy between 20 weeks of gestation to term. Maximum length of anyone single fetal kidney is measured from upper pole to lower pole at least thrice and mean of the measurements was taken. The data has been analyzed in SPSS-21 version and Microsoft word, excel have been used to generate graphs, tables etc. Results: Linear regression equation showed kidney length could predict gestational age with an accuracy ±9.048 days and predictability when combined with other biometric indices was ±8.299 days. Conclusions: The study shows good correlation between gestational age derived from FKL and gestational age from established biometric indices like BPD, HC, AC, and FL.FKL can be combined with the other four biometric indices to give a fair estimation of gestational age. Keywords: Gestational age, Kidney length, Ultrasonography 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2 Preventive and Social Medicine, S.C.B Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, India Received: 09 April 2017 Accepted: 15 April 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Monalisa Peter, E-mail: drmonapeter@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20171808