Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 8, Issue 11 613-617, Copyright © 1989 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Sonographic diagnosis of abnormal fetal genitalia
B. R. Benacerraf, D. H. Saltzman and J. Mandell
Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Sonographic fetal gender determination is undertaken as part of many
prenatal ultrasound examinations. We describe three abnormalities of the
fetal phallus, two that were related to family history and one that was
associated with other genitourinary tract abnormalities of the fetus.
Examination of the fetal genitalia is an important part of the sonographic
examination, particularly when there is a genitourinary fetal anomaly or a
family history of abnormal genitalia, because the external genitals are a
part of the genitourinary tract that can occasionally be malformed. Caution
is advisable in the sonographic gender determination in these cases.