Shortened fetal femur
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
At the time the article was created Yuranga Weerakkody had no recorded disclosures.
View Yuranga Weerakkody's current disclosuresAt the time the article was last revised Jeremy Jones had no recorded disclosures.
View Jeremy Jones's current disclosures- Shortened femur
- Short fetal femoral length
- Short fetal femur
- Short femur
A shortened fetal femur is a morphological descriptor and is usually defined when the femoral length falls below the 5th centile for gestational age (some define it when it is under the 2.5th centile 5) or less than 0.91 predicted by the biparietal diameter (BPD). It can occur in isolated or in association with a number of other anomalies.
Epidemiology
According to the former definition (i.e. using the 5th centile), the estimated incidence is at 5% of pregnancies.
Associations
Recognized associations include
-
aneuploidic syndromic
- trisomy 21 - Down syndrome (conflicting evidence 1,3): it is sometimes considered as a soft marker for aneuploidic anomalies 5)
- trisomy 22
- non-aneuploidic syndromic
- non-syndromic
Significance
If detected in the 2nd trimester, a careful search for any other fetal anomalies as well as a follow up scan later in the pregnancy 6 is often recommended.
Treatment and prognosis
The prognosis tends to be variable depending on the presence of associated anomalies.
References
- 1. Weisz B, David AL, Chitty L et-al. Association of isolated short femur in the mid-trimester fetus with perinatal outcome. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2008;31 (5): 512-6. doi:10.1002/uog.5349 - Pubmed citation
- 2. Todros T, Massarenti I, Gaglioti P et-al. Fetal short femur length in the second trimester and the outcome of pregnancy. BJOG. 2004;111 (1): 83-5. BJOG (link) - Pubmed citation
- 3. Twining P, Whalley DR, Lewin E et-al. Is a short femur length a useful ultrasound marker for Down's syndrome? Br J Radiol. 1991;64 (767): 990-2. doi:10.1259/0007-1285-64-767-990 - Pubmed citation
- 4. Papageorghiou AT, Fratelli N, Leslie K et-al. Outcome of fetuses with antenatally diagnosed short femur. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2008;31 (5): 507-11. doi:10.1002/uog.5265 - Pubmed citation
- 5. www.sogc.org/guidelines/public/162E-CPG-June2005.pdf
- 6. Avni EF, Avni FE. Perinatal imaging, from ultrasound to MR imaging. Springer Verlag. (2002) ISBN:354067327X. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 7. Entezami M, Albig M, Knoll U et-al. Ultrasound Diagnosis of Fetal Anomalies. Thieme. (2003) ISBN:1588902129. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
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