Objective:

To establish the usefulness of fetal kidney length measurement in the prediction of gestational age.

Design:

Prospective, longitudinal cohort study. Institution: Hospital Central "Dr. Urquinaona", Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Participants:

Women with low-risk singleton pregnancies, between 18 and 40 weeks of gestation.

Methods:

Biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference, femur length, and fetal kidney length were measured during the duration of pregnancy.

Main outcome measures:

Prediction of gestational age by measurement of fetal kidney length.

Results:

Data from 215 pregnant women was selected. A total of 3,291 total evaluations were performed, with the lowest number of evaluations at 31 weeks (128), and the highest number (157) at 28 weeks. Fetal kidney length presented strong, positive and significant correlations with gestational age by date of last menstrual period and by ultrasound measurements (p < 0.001). The model of gestational age predicted by the transverse diameter of the cerebellum reached a value of the coefficient of determination of 0.682. The correlation between gestational age by date of last menstrual period and that predicted by the model reached a value of r = 0.826 (p< 0.001).

Conclusion:

Measurement of fetal kidney length is useful for predicting gestational age and together with other routine ultrasound measurements may improve the ability of current prediction models.

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