Developmental age estimated by bone‐length measurement in human fetuses

Abstract

The lengths of 491 long bones of the extremities derived from 193 freshly delivered human fetuses of 7 to 22 weeks fertilization age were measured. Fetuses delivered after spontaneous abortion, twin pregnancy, or known maternal disease were excluded. The correlation between fetal age (measured by crown‐rump length) and bone length was linear. The term “developmental age” was used for bone length‐derived age values. Developmental age can be determined from the length of even a single bone, i.e., when mechanical injury of the delivered fetus inhibits crown‐rump length measurement. The results could aid researchers dealing with human embryology, clinicians performing fetal tissue transplantation, and could be applied in forensic medicine as well.