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Practice Guidelines
The Committee on Practice Bulletins-Obstetrics of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued new clinical management guidelines on fetal macrosomia. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 22, which replaces Technical Bulletin No. 159 issued in September 1991, appears in the November 2000 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. These guidelines discuss risk factors and complications, and suggest clinical management for the pregnancy with suspected fetal macrosomia. Diagnosis, Risk Factors and Complications
The term fetal macrosomia implies fetal growth beyond a specific weight, usually 4,000 g (8 lb, 13 oz) or 4,500 g (9 lb, 4 oz), regardless of the fetal gestational age. Results from large cohort studies support the use of 4,500 g as the weight at which a fetus should be considered macrosomic.
Weighing the newborn after delivery is the only way to accurately diagnose macrosomia, because the prenatal diagnostic methods (assessment of maternal risk factors, clinical examination and ultrasonographic measurement of the fetus) remain imprecise. Leopold's maneuvers and measurement of the height of the uterine fundus above the maternal symphysis pubis are the two primary methods for the clinical estimation of fetal weight, according to ACOG. Use of either of these methods alone is considered to be a poor predictor of fetal macrosomia; therefore, they must be combined to produce a more accurate measurement. Ultrasonographic measurement of the fetus serves as a means to rule out the diagnosis of fetal macrosomia, which may aid in avoiding maternal morbidity, but is considered to be no more accurate than Leopold's maneuver.
According to the ACOG committee, the risk factors (excluding preexisting diabetes mellitus) for fetal macrosomia, in decreasing order of importance, are as follows: a history of macrosomia, maternal prepregnancy weight, weight gain during pregnancy, multiparity, male fetus, gestational age more than 40 weeks, ethnicity, maternal birth weight, maternal height, maternal age younger than 17 years and a positive...