Prediction of Fetal Lung Maturity

the best method for measurement of fetal lung volume is by the rotational technique in which each lung is obtained by serial contouring of the pulmonary area after rotating the volumetric image.this is more recent method seems to have advantages allowing finer contouring of the lung and subsequent modification of the contour as well as being better able to estimate the volumes of irregular and small lung as in congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Women placed in semirecumbent position and an axial plane through the fetal thorax to achieve 4 chamber view of the heart. The main pulmonary artery was followed to the point where it divides into right and left branches by rotating the transducer from the 4 chamber view to the short axis view of the heart. Pulsed and colour Doppler was used. The fetal pulmonary artery flow waveform measurements was taken within the proximal portion of the main pulmonary artery

the adrenal gland has a characteristic sonographic appearance; each limb is seen as a long anechoic structure with a thin, echogenic line within its center . Both limbs can sometimes be seen in the coronal plane, and if so there is a strong echogenic line between limbs (probably fat). On the basis of pathologic and histologic studies , we believe the anechoic bulk of the gland represents the fetal zone of the cortex, while the central echogenic core is the medulla.