Second-trimester measurements of placental volume by three-dimensional ultrasound to predict small-for-gestational-age infants

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the value of second-trimester three-dimensional sonographic placental volume measurements to predict infants who are below the 10th centile for birth weight. Subjects and methods Placental volume measurements were performed using three-dimensional ultrasound in 382 women with normal singleton pregnancies at 16-23 weeks gestation. Logistic multivariate regression consisting of variables considered to influence birth weight was used to predict infants with a birth weight below the 10th centile from the placental volume measurements. Results Prognostic influence could be shown for placental volume (p less than or equal to 0.0001), gestational week at the time of measurement (p = 0.0002) and maternal weight at the time of registration (p = 0.0025). Values for specificity and sensitivity achieved by choosing nit 'optimal' cut-off point of 0.16 for the estimation probability for a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant were low at 82.5% and 52.5%, respectively. Conclusions Three-dimensional sonographic measurement of the placental volume alone is not a satisfactory technique for predicting SGA infants.