Purpose:
To report axial ocular and ocular volume growth during humangestation by means of in vivo fetal 3-D ultrasound
Methods:
A prospective, longitudinal study including 78 fetuses' eyeof 40 pregnant women was carried out. Only singleton pregnancieswithout fetal growth restriction, diabetes mellitus, hypertensionor major fetal malformation were included. Fetuses’ eyemeasurements were obtained by a single observer during routineultrasonographic examination. Each pregnant woman was examinedat least 3 times between 18 and 40 weeks of gestation. Transverseocular diameter, anterior-posterior ocular diameter, automaticocular volume and manual ocular volume were measured using atransabdominal ultrasound. The volume of the fetal eye was measuredusing the VOCAL software.
Results:
The transverse ocular diameter and anterior-posterior oculardiameter ranged between 57 mm to 169 mm and 68 mm to 200 mm,respectively. Both the transverse (r = 0.91, P <0.001) andanterior-posterior ocular diameters (r = 0.93, P < 0.001)were strongly correlated with the gestational age (Figure 1).The manual ocular volume and automatic ocular volume measurementsranged between 181 mm3 to 3266 mm3 and 259 mm3 to 3238 mm3,respectively. Both the manual (r = 0.95, P <0.001) and automaticvolumes (r = 0.95, P < 0.001) were strongly correlated withthe gestational age (Figure 2). The 95% limits of agreementbetween manual and automatic ocular measurements were -372.9mm3 to 179.5 mm3.
Conclusions:
Axial ocular and ocular volume growth were strongly correlatedwith human gestation. A moderate agreement was found betweenmanual and automatic ocular measurements.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology • anatomy • imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound)