What Exactly Does BPD in Pregnancy Mean?

Pregnancy is a crucial period. During this period, doctors perform an ultrasound to look at the health and development of your baby. An ultrasound provides information through BPD, HC, FL, AC, CRL, OFD, HL, and other measurements. You are going to hear these terms in all three trimesters. 

These measurements come under fetal biometry. Fetal biometry in pregnancy provides your healthcare provider with details about the baby's growth. It helps diagnose fetal growth disorders, which can lead to complications. 

What Does BPD in Pregnancy Mean?

BPD, or biparietal diameter, is part of a routine ultrasound examination that measures the distance between the two sides of an unborn developing baby’s skull. BPD in pregnancy allows your doctor to estimate the baby’s weight and gestational age. 

Doctors conduct the BPD during a standard ultrasound, usually around 13 weeks gestation or later. This measurement technique includes placing the calipers from the outer edge of the proximal parietal bone to the inner edge of the distal parietal bone. 

The BPD pregnancy normal range varies depending on gestational age. However, factors such as the mother’s nutritional status, race, parental height, fetal sex, and ethnicity can affect fetal biometry. 

What is BPD in Ultrasound? 

Every human being has two parietal bones. One on the left and the other on the right side of the skull. Each parietal bone appears on a curved plate with two surfaces and four sides. 

An ultrasound technician performs BPD and measures the baby’s development on a computer screen. It is part of a routine examination with the only purpose of estimating your baby’s weight and gestational age. 

What’s The Importance of BPD in Pregnancy? 

BPD or Biparietal Diameter in pregnancy is important for many reasons. These include monitoring growth, estimating gestational age, and fetal biometry. 

Your doctor can recommend fetal biometry or BPD ultrasound in pregnancy to check your unborn baby’s growth and development. An abnormal increase in BPD deviations signals potential issues. 

BPD ultrasound in fetal biometry can estimate your unborn fetus’s gestational age. It measures the distance between the two sides of a developing baby’s skull. 

Fetal biometry estimates the overall well-being of the unborn fetus. BPD in pregnancy is crucial for checking abdominal circumference and femur bone length. 

Also, read https://redcliffelabs.com/myhealth/pregnancy/is-coconut-water-safe-during-pregnancy/ 

How is BPD Measured? 

BPD is taken through ultrasound. In pregnant women, doctors look at one to three ultrasounds or sonograms. Doctors suggest taking the BPD, especially about week 20. 

BPD is a part of fetal biometry, which estimates the size of an unborn baby. BPD measures the diameter of the head. It is useful alongside: 

1. Head Circumference: HC measures the length around the head. 
2. Abdominal Circumference: AC measures the length around the belly. 
3. Femur length: FL measures the length of the femur bone. 
4. Trans-cerebellar diameter: TCD measures the diameter between the cerebellar hemispheres. 
5. Crown-rump length: CRL measures the length from the baby’s head to the bottom. 

Other measurements include: 

1. Interocular distance (IOD) 
2. Occipital-frontal diameter (OFD) 
3. Binocular distance (BOD) 
4. Ratios 
5. Humeral length (HL) 

Doctors perform CRL during the first trimester, which gives an overall outlook of the unborn fetus’s growth and development. After all measurements, including BPD in pregnancy, your doctor studies the growth signs and determines if they require any medical decisions to assess and identify any underlying or potential complications. 

How is BPD in Pregnancy Performed? 

During standard prenatal ultrasound screenings, medical professionals take fetal biometry measurements, including the BPD. Ultrasound requires high-frequency sound waves to create images of internal organs and structures. Healthcare technicians use those images to check mobility and anatomy by performing an amniotic fluid volume assessment. 

During the BPD procedure, technicians apply the clear gel on the mother’s abdomen and move a small transducer on the area to capture images of the unborn fetus. In some pregnant women, doctors insert an ultrasound wand 2-3 inches into your vagina. Doctors perform this during early pregnancy scans or in women who need specific views. 

Also, read https://redcliffelabs.com/myhealth/pregnancy/pineapple-in-pregnancy-benefits-risks-and-safe-consumption/ 

BPD Pregnancy Normal Range 

BPD is an accurate way to determine your fetus’s growth. However, the BPD measurement in pregnancy is accurate during the first and second trimesters, however, it declines in the third trimester. The range differs during gestational age weeks. It can vary because of many factors. These include: 

• Parental size 
• Medical condition 
• Genetic factor 

BPD Pregnancy Normal Range
Gestational Age (Weeks)	BPD (mm)
11	15
14	24
16	32
18	38
20	49
22	57
23	53
24	66
26	71
28	79
30	80
32	89

Also, read https://redcliffelabs.com/myhealth/food-and-nutrition/pregnancy-diet-chart-nutrition-tips-for-every-trimester/ 

How To Treat Abnormal BPD? 

Any range above indicates an abnormal BPD. If your BPD ultrasound results are abnormal, your doctor can recommend further testing. 

If the BPD measurements are smaller than usual, it shows an intrauterine growth restriction. 

If the BPD measurements are larger than usual, your baby might have health issues like gestational diabetes. 

Doctors can recommend microcephaly in women exposed to the Zika virus. CDC suggests fetal biometry ultrasound every three to four weeks for women with Zika virus infection. 

It is quite common for a fetus to measure small or large. However, in most cases, the baby is born healthy. BPD is a routine screening test that monitors the fetus’s gestational age, weight, and size. 

Key Takeaways 

BPD, or biparietal diameter, is a basic parameter that detects fetal size. It is a part of the fetal biometry measured with head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL) to produce fetal weight. Your doctor will estimate your baby’s size through BPD in an ultrasound. They might also suggest BPD in pregnancy to women who have chances of having twins.