Normal standards for fetal neurobehavioral developments – longitudinal quantification by four-dimensional sonography
-
Asim Kurjak
, Wiku Andonotopo , Tomislav Hafner , Aida Salihagic Kadic , Milan Stanojevic , Guillermo Azumendi , Badreldeen Ahmed , Jose M. Carrera and J.M. Troyano
Abstract
Aim: To construct normal standards for fetal neurobehavioral development using longitudinal observations through all trimesters by four-dimensional sonography.
Subject and methods: A group of 100 healthy normal singleton pregnancies were recruited for longitudinal 4D US examinations to evaluate fetal neurodevelopmental parameters between 7 to 40 weeks' gestation. Variables of maternal and fetal characteristics including gestational age, eight fetal movements patterns in the first trimester and 14 parameters of fetal movement and fetal facial expression patterns recorded thereafter for the construction of fetal neurological charts.
Results: Measurement of 7 parameters in the first trimester and 11 parameters in the second and third trimesters correlated with gestational age (P<0.05). Those parameters have been followed longitudinally through all trimesters and showed increasing frequency of fetal movements during the first trimester. A tendency towards decreased frequency of facial expressions and movement patterns with increasing gestational age from second to third trimesters has been noticed.
Conclusion: With 4D sonography, it is possible to quantitatively assess normal neurobehavioral development. There is urgent need for further multicentric studies until a sufficient degree of normative data is available and the predictive validity of the specific relationship between fetal neurobehavior and child developmental outcome is better established.
References
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©2006 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- WAPM-Newsletter No 1/2006 7thWORLD CONGRESS OF PERINATAL MEDICINE in Zagreb, September 21–24, 2005
- Cerebral palsy and fetal inflammatory response syndrome: a review
- A sonographic short cervix as the only clinical manifestation of intra-amniotic infection
- Suppression of IL-2 and IFN-γ production in women with spontaneous preterm labor
- Does practice make perfect? An age-matched study on grand multiparity in Flanders, Belgium
- Efficacy of a strategy to prevent neonatal early-onset group B streptococcal (GBS) sepsis
- Four-dimensional ultrasonography of the fetal heart using a novel Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging display
- Normal standards for fetal neurobehavioral developments – longitudinal quantification by four-dimensional sonography
- Selective surfactant prophylaxis in preterm infants born at ≤31 weeks' gestation using the stable microbubble test in gastric aspirates
- In-line filters in central venous catheters in a neonatal intensive care unit
- Integrating the role of infection in prediction and prevention of preterm delivery
- Studies on the prevalence of human papillomavirus in pregnant women in Japan
- Unilateral pulmonary agenesis
- Posterior reversible leucoencephalopathy syndrome: a rare complication of preeclampsia
- Isolated spontaneous fetal heart rate decelerations: prognostic significance
- Combination of vasa praevia, true umbilical cord knot and a subserosal hemorrhage
- Neonatal pneumopericardium
- Congress Calendar
- Roster of Perinatal Societies