Although sonographic fetal sex determination is feasible in most pregnancies, in some cases, it may pose difficulties. An attempt to determine the fetal sex should not be made before 12-weeks' gestation because this early, it is relatively inaccurate. After 13 weeks, it is accurate in 99% to 100% of cases without malformed external genitalia. Sonographic fetal sex determination in the late second trimester is based on direct visualization of the external genitalia, whereas in the late first and early second trimester, it is based mainly on the direction of the genital tubercle (the "sagittal sign"): downward direction of the genital tubercle indicates a female fetus and upward direction a male fetus. Other sonographic landmarks, such as the fetal scrotum, the midline raphe of the penis, the labial lines, the uterus, the descended testis, and the direction and origin of the fetal micturition jet in males may contribute to the correct determination of fetal sex. Inaccurate fetal sex determination may occur when the external genitalia are malformed. Three-dimensional ultrasound, although of generally limited diagnostic value for fetal sex determination, may aid in better definition of congenital malformations of the external genitalia.

Objective To assess three-dimensional placental volume measurement and three-dimensional power Doppler (3D-PD) indices between 10 weeks and 6 days and 13 weeks and 6 days in predicting pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and small for gestational age (SGA).Methods Three hundred and eight women undergoing fetal nuchal translucency measurement were prospectively assessed using three-dimensional ultrasound in order to measure placental volume and 3D-PD indices: vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization flow index (VFI), using the VOCAL software. The outcome was scored as normal, PIH, SGA or both.Results Eight women developed PIH and ten delivered SGA; and 17 developed PIH or SGA. The age, gestational age at the examination or delivery, number of the pregnancy and the nuchal translucency, were similar in all groups. The placental volume, FI and VFI were similar between the groups. The VI was significantly lower when PIH developed (7.86 ± 3.92 vs. 12.02 ± 7.09 in the normal group, P = 0.035). The crown-rump length (CRL) was significantly smaller in the group where either PIH or SGA developed compared to normal outcome (54.29 ± 6.50 and 59.04 ± 8.89, respectively, P = 0.02). ConclusionPlacental volume is not appropriate for early prediction of PIH or SGA, whereas the VI may be of some potential in detection of PIH. The significance of small CRL in these patients should be further tested.

Recently, we have shown that vestibular hyperinnervation and the presence of 8 or more mast cells in a 10 x 10 microscopic field can be used as diagnostic criteria in localized vulvodynia (vulvar vestibulitis). We have also documented that degranulation of mast cells occurs in these cases. The present study further examines the characteristics of vestibular hyperinnervation and mast cell function in localized vulvodynia to elucidate if the 2 processes-hyperinnervation and mast cell increase and degranulation-are related. We examined vestibular tissue from 7 women aged 18 to 48 with severe localized vulvodynia and from 7 healthy control women. Parallel sections were stained by Giemsa and then immunostained for CD117 and heparanase. Nerve fibers that expressed protein gene product 9.5 were examined. Tissues from women with localized vulvodynia documented a significant increase in vestibular mast cells, subepithelial heparanase activity, and intraepithelial hyperinnervation compared with healthy women. This is the first documentation of heparanase activity in localized vulvodynia. Heparanase, which is degranulated from mast cells, is capable of degrading the vestibular stroma and epithelial basement membrane, thus permitting stromal proliferation and intraepithelial extension of nerve fibers, as seen in the present study. The hyperinnervation has been thought to cause the vestibular hyperesthesia distinctive of localized vulvodynia.