The transverse section of the fetus urinary bladder is circular and, for volume estimation, an appropriate longitudinal section is sufficient
Journal article, 2013

Purpose The purpose was to investigate the transverse shape of the fetal urinary bladder. Methods Using 3D ultrasound, an appropriate longitudinal image of fetal urinary bladders was chosen. Perpendicular sections were examined and the transverse bladder image with a minimum of shadows was selected, documented and transferred to a PC. The contour of the transverse bladder image was marked manually and recorded electronically. The mean of radii distances from the centre pixel to each border pixel outlining this bladder image was calculated for each fetus. Results In the material comprising 20 fetuses, the range of mean radii was 2.6–18.4 mm and the SD 0.4 mm. The mean wall thickness of the bladders was 2.7 mm and the distance represented by one pixel for different selected depths was 0.3 mm on average. Conclusions In view of the current technical limitations, an aberration from the circular shape may not be discernible. For this reason, the transverse shape of the fetal urinary bladder can be regarded as a circle. This means that, for bladder volume estimation, only an appropriate longitudinal section is necessary.

Shape

Ultrasonography

Organ volume

Urinary bladder

Measurement

Reliability

Fetus

Author

M. Fagerquist

Innlandet Hospital Trust

E. Skytteren

Innlandet Hospital Trust

U. Fagerquist

Edutec Inc.

Anders Odén

Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Mathematical Statistics

University of Gothenburg

Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics

0932-0067 (ISSN) 1432-0711 (eISSN)

Vol. 287 4 647-651

Subject Categories

Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine

DOI

10.1007/s00404-012-2613-y

PubMed

23161224

More information

Created

10/7/2017