Revised Estimates of Ultrasonographic Markers for Gestational Age Assessment of Singleton Pregnancies among Indian Population

This paper presents the revised estimates of various ultrasonographic markers used in practice for estimation of gestational age among singleton Indian population. Accurate estimation of gestational age plays a vital role in efficient obstetric planning and also helps us to estimate fetal malformation or growth retardation. Incorrect estimation of gestational age can result in grave complication for the patient and liability for health care providers. But the spectacular improvement in ultrasound imaging quality in the past decade has contributed to the rapid increase in its use as a diagnostic tool in the past decade. The ultrasound based growth chart used in practice date back to 1980’s. These charts have been found to estimate the gestational age with an accuracy of 2 weeks which is high compared to the state-of-the-art scanning systems. Hence in this paper an effort has been made to review the various ultrasonographic markers for fetal growth estimation and also propose revised estimates for US charts for singleton Indian population. Results indicate that using the proposed scheme, it may be possible to estimate the gestational age with an accuracy of 2 to 3 days.