Objective: To measure the fetal renal volume by means of three-dimensional ultrasonography according to the gestational age in the second half of pregnancy and to evaluate the value of renal volume in the assessment of fetal well being.
Methods: One hundred and fifty nine women with singleton uncomplicated pregnancies underwent the fetal renal volume measurement between 24 and 36 weeks’ gestation from November 2004 to August 2005. Three-dimensional ultrasonography was used to measure the fetal renal volume. We compared the difference of each volume in right and left kidney according to the gestational age.
Results: It was revealed that both renal volumes are highly correlated with the fetal gestational age. The linear regression formulas for the right and left fetal renal volumes were y=0.997x-19.022 (R2=0.336, p<0.01) and y=1.028x-20.103 (R2= 0.359, p<0.01, y, fetal renal volume, x; gestational age) respectively. We could not find a difference between the right and left renal volume throughout the gestational age (p=0.51).
Conclusion: With the second half of the pregnancy, the measurement of fetal kidney volume according to the gestational age would be a reference data for survey of well-being of the fetus in case of fetal distress or the discordance of fetal development.