Growth of the fetal gall bladder in normal pregnancies.

Our objective was to obtain dimensions of the fetal gall bladder as a basis, for further studies and to establish normative data to assess deviations in growth. The study group included 183 normal pregnant women from 13 to 40 weeks' gestation. Routine biometric measurements were obtained on all fetuses, including biparietal diameter, head and abdominal circumferences and measurements of the long bones and the two diameters of the fetal gull bladder. The gall bladder area and circumference were calculated for each gestational age.A linear growth function was observed across the gestational age and a first-degree correlation was found to exist between gestational age and both the longitudinal (r = 0.77067; p < 0.00001; y = -0.41060 + 0.0907 x gestational age) and transverse (r = 0.602; p < 0.00001; y = 0.58567 + 0.01925 x gestational age) diameters of the fetal gall bladder. A significant correlation was also found between gull bladder area and gestational age (r = 0.6878; p < 0.00001), biparietal diameter (r = 0.72768; p < 0.00001), abdominal circumference (r = 0.71363; p < 0.00001) and femoral length (r = 0.72190; p < 0.00001). In addition, a significant correlation was found between gall bladder circumference and gestational age (r = 0.76181; p < 0.00001), biparietal diameter (r = 0.80039; p < 0.00001), abdominal circumference (r = 0.78030; p < 0.00001) and femoral length (r = 0.79694; p < 0.00001). These results provide normative data of the fetal gall bladder in various dimensions and across gestational age. In addition, the data offer the potential for prenatal diagnosis of additional lesions in the extrahepatic biliary duct system. Copyright 1994 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology