Sonographic 3D Measurement of Fetal Thymus May be Used to Predict the Small Baby in Pregnancy.

The exact etiology of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) remains unclear but is known to involve immunologic/infectious factors. The thymus is one of the main organs involved in the development of the fetal immune system. The aim of this study was to explore the association between 3D fetal thymus volume (VOCAL) on ultrasound and intrauterine growth restiction by adding the 3-dimensional measurement of thymus volume to the routine fetal ultrasound scan at 15-24 week of gestation. Investigators performed a prospective clinical study in 100 pregnant women in their second trimester of pregnancy who attended the Fetal Medicine Unit of the Medicine Faculty of Karadeniz Technical University during the study period. Maternal age, gravida, para, BMI, blood pressure, gestational age, BPD, FL ,AC, EFW and fetal timus volume measured with VOCAL programme are recorded. For all patients routine clinical and ultrasound examinations were performed during pregnancy. Gestational age at birth, way of birth and newborn birthweight were recorded. The results were statistically compared in the SPSS 13.0 program. Student-t test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. ROC curve analysis was used for limit values. The data of patients with IUGR and without IUGR were compared. The ability of the thymus volume to predict the IUGR was tested using binary logistic regression analysis. P value \<0.05 was considered statistically significant.