This study provides a reference table of normal fetal heart weights and ventricular ratios across 12 to 40 weeks' gestation.
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Supplies fetal heart weight references across gestation; extends normative data but leaves clinical utility open.
The hearts from 31 fetuses aged from 12 to 40 weeks' gestation were dissected after fixation. The right ventricle and the left ventricle plus septum were weighed separately and a ratio was established. The total and separate ventricular weights increase steadily with age and at a similar rate. Throughout fetal life the left ventricle plus septum is larger than the right ventricle, but the right ventricle forms a greater proportion of the total ventricular weight than it does in the child or the adult.For the first time, a table of normal fetal heart weights and ratios obtained using the method of Fulton, Hutchinson, and Jones (1952) is presented.
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Hislop et al. (1972) studied this question.
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