Estimation of fetal age by histological study of kidney

An attempt has been made to correlate the gestational age of a fetus with a histological study of the sequential development of nephrons in the kidneys. One hundred and eighteen dead fetuses aged between 14 and 40 weeks of gestation were examined. In each case, paraffin sections from the kidneys were studied microscopically and the number of glomerular generations present was counted and correlated with the reported period of gestation based on obstetric calculations. The results were analysed and statistically confirmed a high degree of correlation, indicating that this could be a reliable method of estimating fetal age in forensic situations, such as infanticide and criminal abortion.