Monitoring Fetal Growth via Ultrasonography

Ultrasonography is a valuable tool for detecting pregnancy and establishing pregnancy loss, but it can also be used to evaluate equine fetal growth, said W.K. (Karin) Hendriks, DVM, Dipl. ECAR. Veterinarians could use a combination of transrectal and transabdominal ultrasounds to provide good information about fetal development.

Because it is difficult to define normal development

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Ultrasonography is a valuable tool for detecting pregnancy and establishing pregnancy loss, but it can also be used to evaluate equine fetal growth, said W.K. (Karin) Hendriks, DVM, Dipl. ECAR. Veterinarians could use a combination of transrectal and transabdominal ultrasounds to provide good information about fetal development.

Because it is difficult to define normal development for gestational age in a fetus, Hendriks and her colleagues in the Department of Equine Sciences at Utrecht University in The Netherlands evaluated 32 Dutch Warmblood mares from 100 days of gestation until parturition to see which maternal factors influence fetal development and to find parameters other than fetal aorta diameter to predict gestation length.

“Maternal age and parity both affect fetal development,” said Hendriks. “For example an older mare (greater than 15 years of age) will bring a smaller foal to term than a young (around 5 years of age) mare.”

The researchers found that the ventral uterine wall and placenta (CTUPv) close to the cervix was thicker in mares carrying their first foal (primiparous) than in multiparous mares between 100 and 250 days of gestation. After day 220 the cross-sectional area of the eye orbit and cranium was greater in primiparous than in multiparous mares

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