Abstract

The study aimed to determine between last menstrual period and ultrasonography which is more exact in predicting the delivery date.

This prospective comparative study utilized 311 participants with certain last menstrual period at between 8 to less than 24 week gestation. The participants were scanned and followed up to delivery. The date of birth as forecasted by the crown-rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (BPD), and femur length (FL) were analyzed and compared with estimates derived from the last menstrual period (LMP).

The results showed that ultrasound biometry was better than certain LMP in estimating the day of delivery by a minimum of 0.7 days. Less than 10% of the subjects delivered on the day predicted altogether by the methods employed in calculating the date of delivery. The BPD was the best predictor of the date of delivery and the length of the pregnancy (mean and median duration being 279.2 and 279 days respectively) while the FL performed slightly more exact than the CRL. Combination of any two or three ultrasonic variables statistically did not improve the accuracy of prediction. When ultrasound was used instead of certain LMP, the number of post term pregnancies reduced from 4% to 0.4%. All predictions by CRL fell within term.

Ultrasound biometry was more exact than certain last menstrual period in dating, and its utilization, reduced the number of post term deliveries. A second trimester biparietal diameter was the best parameter in dating pregnancy. Combining more than one ultrasonic measurements did not result in improved dating accuracy.

Keywords: First Trimester; Second Trimester; Ultrasound; Gestational Age; Pregnancy Duration; Pregnancy Dating

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Citation

Citation: Peter Waibode Alabrah., et al. “A Comparative Study of the Exactness of Certain Last Menstrual Period and Ultrasonography in Forecasting the Date of Delivery”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 5.2 (2021): 92-98.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Peter Waibode Alabrah., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.