For each person there is nothing more important than his family and the health of its members. Therefore, so much attention is paid today to the provision of quality medical care. This issue is especially relevant in relation to the planning and management of pregnancy. Monitoring its progress is carried out in order to maintain and strengthen the health of both the mother and the fetus.
Today in the world there are many different ways and methods for monitoring the course of pregnancy. Among them, the most commonly used ultrasound diagnostics. This is primarily due to the harmlessness of such a study and its safety for a growing organism.
Ultrasound, the main indicators are the diameter of the abdomen and chest of the fetus, the length of the thigh, as well as biparietal size. It is these indicators that are the most informative and characterize the developing changes in the fetus most fully.
What is biparietal size? This indicator is determined by the visualization of the echo waves at the level of the third ventricle of the brain. BDP characterizes the actual distance between opposite walls (the outer contours of the parietal bones of the skull). This size is a direct measure of the size of the head. It is used to assess the possibility of passing the head through the birth canal.
In addition, a measurement is made of the distance between the external contours of the frontal and occipital bones, between their distant points.
The biparietal size of the fetal head is determined in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. This is the main indicator of the state of development of the fetus. Why is it used specifically?
The fact is that it is the development of the brain (an increase in the size of the cranium) that can directly indicate the normal or abnormal development of the nervous system.
A distinctive feature of this indicator is the slowdown of its changes over time with the development of the fetus. So, the biparietal size, or rather the rate of its increase at 14-15 weeks of pregnancy is four millimeters per week. By the end of pregnancy, the rate of increase of this indicator is significantly reduced and is only 1.3 millimeters per week.
The biparietal size of the fetal head allows not only to judge the development of the fetus, but also is a direct basis for determining the gestational age (in the absence of other possible options). In this case, the BDP is correlated with the fronto-occipital diameter and we are already talking about a new indicator - the head index.
It is worth considering that it is knowledge of the gestational age that allows you to correctly assess both normal and pathological changes. Among the latter, most often - preterm or preterm pregnancy.
The biparietal size is also determined with the aim of choosing the necessary method of delivery (through the natural birth canal or using a cesarean section). If there is data on the size of the baby’s head and information on the size and condition of the birth canal of the mother, an analysis and correlation of sizes are carried out. If the birth canal is narrowed or the fetal head is too large (which causes a high risk of injury to both the mother and the baby during childbirth), a decision is made to conduct obstetric surgery.
Depending on which size (the distance between the outer or between the inner sections of the parietal bones) is determined, there are some differences in the interpretation of the results.
Thus, to determine the development of the fetal organism, there is a high-quality, fast, and most importantly - safe technique. The determination of the biparietal size of the fetal head, as well as other indicators, is now widely used in obstetrics and gynecology.