ABSTRACT
Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) continues to represent one of the most significant problems in modern perinatology. With sophisticated ultrasonic techniques, the diagnosis of IUGR is now more accurate than ever before. Nevertheless, detection is associated with many problems, and that is reflected with large number of ultrasonic methods devised for IUGR detection. The diagnosis of IUGR is associated with difficulties which are partly due to the use of imprecise definitions and inconstant diagnostic criteria. The widely accepted definition of IUGR is based on birth weight. Recently, two new ultrasonic parameters have been reported to be of possible value in IUGR detection. Vintzileos et al. described fetal liver measurements and determined fetal liver size for each week of pregnancy from 20 weeks. A strong correlation between reduced fetal urine production rate and IUGR was reported.84 However, this method is rather time consuming, less accurate than others, and therefore, is not suitable for widespread use.
