Fetal age estimation using MSCT scans of the mandible
Résumé
The purpose of this study was to examine a docu-mented fetal collection, to carry out morphometric analysis offemoral length and of the mandible, and to develop diagnosticstandards for estimating fetal age at death based on multislicecomputed tomography (MSCT) reconstructions. The samplewas composed of 81 fetuses, whose ages were recorded inweeks of amenorrhea (WA) between 20 to 40 WA. Themeasurements made were femoral length (FL) and six dis-tances and four angles of the mandible. Femoral length wasmeasured in 81 fetuses (39 females and 42 males). Morpho-metric study of the mandible was carried out in 65 fetuses (31females and 34 males), as the mandible was missing in 16fetuses. R software was used for statistical analyses. Coeffi-cient correlation (R2) and linear regression formulas werecalculated. Intra-observer and inter-observer variabilities werevery satisfactory (intra-class correlation coefficient≥0.95).Our method appears to be reliable and reproducible. Femorallength was most strongly correlated with age (R2=0.9). Themeasurement of six distances and four mandible angles fromfour landmark positions showed a correlation similar to thefemoral length correlation (R2≥0.72). The results of this studyagreed with those of the literature. We conclude that themandible is a reliable indicator for estimating fetal age atdeath. Moreover, MSCT has been shown to be an innovativeand reliable technology for this purpose.