Fetal age estimation using MSCT scans of deciduous tooth germs

International audienceAbstractEvaluation of fetal age is an essential element inmany fields such as anthropology, odontology, paleopatholo-gy, and forensic sciences. This study examines the correlationbetween fetal age, femoral diaphyseal length (considered asthe gold standard), and deciduous tooth germs of fetuses aged22 to 40 weeks amenorrhea (WA) based on computed tomog-raphy (MSCT) reconstructions. Qualitative and quantitativestudies of femoral and deciduous tooth germ lengths wereperformed on 81 fetuses (39 females and 42 males). R soft-warewas usedfor statistical analyses. Intra-observerand inter-observer variabilities and the interclass correlation coefficient(ICC) were calculated. Correlation coefficients (R2) and linearregression equations were calculated. Intra- and inter-observervariabilities were very satisfactory (intra-observer ICC≥0.96,inter-observer ICC≥0.95). Femoral length was significantlycorrelated with age (R2=0.9). The correlation coefficient be-tween age and height, width, and dental volume wasR2≥0.73.Tooth germs were good indicators of fetal age. Our methodappears to be reliable and reproducible, and the results of thisstudy agreed with those of the literature. The dental formulaprovided a precise estimation of fetal age between 25 and 32WA. Tooth germs were reliable indicators of fetal age, andmultislice computed tomography was shown to be an innova-tive and reliable technology for this purpose