Correlation of the fetal cerebellar volume with other fetal growth indices by three-dimensional ultrasound

Abstract

Objective. To verify the correlation of fetal cerebellar volume by three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US) with other indices of fetal growth in normal fetuses.

Methods. This was a longitudinal prospective study involving 52 normal pregnant women between 20 and 32 weeks of gestation. The assessments of the fetal cerebellar volume were carried out at intervals of two weeks, and the method used was VOCAL (virtual organ computer-aided analysis) with a 30° rotation angle. At each assessment, the following biometric indices were evaluated using the two-dimensional method: biparietal diameter, head circumference, transverse cerebellar diameter, femur length, and estimated fetal weight. We used Pearson's correlation coefficient to evaluate the correlation between fetal cerebellar volume and these indices; we also used polynomial regression analysis with fetal cerebellar volume as the dependent variable and the other indices as the independent variable.

Results. The fetal cerebellar volume was highly correlated with gestational age (r = 0.94; p < 0.001) and with all other fetal growth indices (p < 0.001).

Conclusions. The assessment of the fetal cerebellar volume by 3D US is an important tool to evaluate fetal growth.

Keywords:

• Three-dimensional imaging
• fetus
• cerebellum
• organ volume