Study of Prostate Growth in Prune Belly Syndrome and Anencephalic Fetuses
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Topic overview
Abstract
Background
To compare the growth of the prostate in anencephalic, prune belly syndrome (PBS) and control fetuses.
Methods
We studied 35 prostates from normal human fetuses aged 11–22 weeks postconception (WPC); 15 from anencephalic fetuses aged 13–19 WPC; and 6 from PBS fetuses aged 13–31WPC. After prostate dissection, we evaluated the prostate length, width and thickness with the aid of a computer program (Image Pro and Image J). The fetal prostate volume (PV) was calculated using the ellipsoid formula: PV = [length × thickness × width] × 0.523. The prostates were dissected and the PV was measured with the aid of the same computer program. Means were statistically compared using the unpaired t-test and linear regression was performed.
Results
In 2 PBS fetuses we observed prostatic atresia. We did not observe significant differences in PV when comparing the control group (PV: 6.1 to 313.81 mm, mean = 70.85 mm: SD = 71.43 mm) with anencephalic fetuses: p = 0.3575 (PV: 5.1 to 159.11 mm, mean = 42.94 mm; SD = 40.11 mm) and PBS fetuses: p > 0.999 (PV: 10.89 to 148.71 mm, mean = 55.4 mm; SD = 63.64 mm). The linear regression analysis indicated that the PV in the control group (r2 = 0.3096; p = 0.0004), anencephalic group (r2 = 0.3778; p = 0.0148) and PBS group (r2 = 0.9821; p
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