Pregnancy: Intrauterine sonographic assessments of embryonal liver length

Our purpose was to evaluate embryonal liver length measurementusing intrauterine sonography with a specially developed 20MHz flexible catheter-based high-resolution real-time miniature(2.4 mm outer diameter) ultrasound transducer in early first-trimesterpregnancy. A total of 36 women about to undergo therapeuticabortion at 7–9.9 weeks gestational age and one abnormalpregnancy with fetal hydrops at 9 weeks were studied. The normalrange of embryonal liver length for each day of pregnancy wasdetermined. A relationship between embryonal liver length andcrown-rump length measurements is described. A linear relationshipwas found between the menstrual age and embryonal liver length(R² = 93.3%), and a normal range of embryonal liver length forestimating the growth of the embryonal liver during early firsttrimester pregnancy was generated. A nonnogram of menstrualage as predicted by embryonal liver length was also generated.Embryonal liver length was curvilinearly correlated with crown-rumplength (R² = 92.3%). Embryonal liver length value (6.4 mm) ina case of fetal hydrops at 9 weeks was above the normal range.These results may provide an additional measurement for theestimation of gestational age in the early first trimester ofpregnancy. In this limited series one embryonal liver enlargementwas demonstrated and, thus, there is a potential for its usein the detection of embryonal congestive heart failure. Thevalue and potential applications of this new embryonal parameterare discussed.