Ultrasound fetal femur length in relation to intrauterine growth retardation. Part II.

With the establishment of a normal range of values for the growth of the ultrasound fetal femur length, a new approach for the study of growth-retarded fetuses is suggested. Ultrasound femur length was measured on a group of "high-risk" pregnancies, and its ability to differentiate the symmetrically small from the asymmetrically small fetus was studied. A reduced ultrasound fetal femur length correlated in all cases with a shortened crown-heel length in the neonate. By adding this ultrasound parameter to those routinely measured on the fetus, a three-dimensional profile can be constructed.