Fetal liver length in normal and isoimmunized pregnancies.

The length of the right lobe of the fetal liver was measured by means of ultrasound examined on 53 occasions in 21 isoimmunized pregnancies. Fetal blood samples were taken in all patients within 24 hours. Comparisons were made with 350 measurements of liver length in normal pregnancies. A good correlation was found between liver length and fetal hemoglobin level (r = 0.794, p less than 0.001) and between liver length and reticulocyte count (r = 0.721, p less than 0.001). At the time of first sample, all fetuses with a hemoglobin of less than 100 gm/L had a liver length that was greater than the ninetieth percentile. Liver length measurement seems to be a useful indicator of the degree of fetal anemia in isoimmunized pregnancies.