Sonographic estimates of fetal weight in the intrauterine growth retardation population

The efficacy of different methods of fetal weight estimation using sonographic measurements of the abdominal circumference (AC), biparietal diameter (BPD), and femur length (FL), either alone or in combination, was evaluated in the fetus with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Eighty-one patients, referred with a clinical suspicion of IUGR, were studied. All patients had sonographic measurements within 7 days of delivery. Four regression equations were used to estimate fetal weight: AC (Hadlock), BPD-AC (Shepard), AC-FL (Hadlock), BPD-AC-FL (Hadlock). For the total study group, as well as for the infants who were found to be IUGR at birth, 75% of the estimates of fetal weight using the BPD-AC-FL method were within 10% of the actual birthweight. Nearly comparable results were obtained using the AC-FL method. In the fetus with IUGR, estimates of fetal weight that incorporated the FL correlated best with the actual birthweight.