الفهرس 
Fetal lungsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 157 |  |  |
| | | from | 157 | | |
Abstract
Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) ”another name of hyaline membrane disease” is a major cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity and is associated reversely with gestational age at birth. Although gestational age is the best predictor of lung maturity, the decision to proceed with or delay delivery is often dependent on the ability to properly assess fetal lung maturity. Fetal lung maturity is the key factor for the survival of prematurely delivered newborn. Amniocentesis is used for the assessment of fetal lung maturity. However, it is invasive, expensive, performed only by trained persons and has many complications. The wide use of ultrasound and Doppler for fetal monitoring makes it an easy and a more applicable tool for fetal lung assessment being widely available and unexpensive. This study will help us to determine the utility of ultrasound in assessing the fetal lung, ultrasound parameters used were fetal biometry (biparietal diameter, femur length and abdominal circumference), epiphyseal centers of the lower limb, placental grading, free floating particles in the amniotic fluid, thalamic echogenicity, colon grading and fetal lung echogenicity in relation to liver. Pulsed-wave Doppler study, including uterine artery, umbilical artery, fetal middle cerebral artery and fetal main pulmonary artery were used to establish reference ranges and cut off points that correlated with mature fetal lungs.