GESTATIONAL AGE-WISE AND SEX-WISE MORPHOLOGY OF HUMAN FOETAL STOMACH Jaipal CH 1 , Subhadra Devi Velichety * 2 , Thyagaraju K 3 . 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences, Gadag, Karnataka, India. *2 Professor, SVIMS- Sri padmavathi Medical College for women, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. 3 Assistant Professor, SVIMS- Sri padmavathi Medical College for women, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. Address for Correspondence:  Prof. Dr. Subhadra Devi Velichety, Professor of Anatomy, SVIMS – Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. E-Mail: sdvelichety@hotmail.com ABSTRACT: Introduction:   Intra-uterine   shape   and   position   of   the   stomach   shows   variability   due   to   the   different   growth   rates   of   the   stomach   wall   in   various   regions   and changes   in   the   positions   of   the   neighboring   structures.   Diagnosis   and   treatment   of   fetal   anomalies   of   stomach   requires   knowledge   of   developmental anatomy   of   stomach   at   different   gestational   ages.   Limited   data   is   available   in   the   literature   on   fetal   anatomy   of   stomach.   No   data   on   morphological parameters of human foetal stomach was reported on Indian population. Materials   and   Methods:    Morphological   parameters   of   52   foetal   stomach   specimens      of   13   –   36   weeks   gestational   age   and   of   both   sexes   were   observed   for positional and shape variations according to gestational age and sex. Results:    Typical   rounded   or   crescent   shape   was   observed   in   82   %   of   cases.   The   other   shapes   observed   include   advanced   enlargement   type,   cascades,   short body type, sliding hiatal hernia type, lobulated and hourglass shapes. Conclusion:   The   present   study   forms   database   for   the   morphological   parameters   of   human   foetal   stomach   in   India   at   different   gestational   ages   as   this   is   the first reported study. KEY WORDS: Foetal stomach, Gestational Ages, Haital Hernia, crescent shape stomach. References 1 . Goldstein    I,    Reece    EA,    Yarkoni    S,    Wan    M,    Green    JL,    Hobbins    JC.    Growth    of    the    fetal    stomach    in    norma    pregnancies.    Obstet    Gynecol 1987;70(4):641–644. 2 . Moore KL, Persaud TVN. The developing human 6th ed, 1998, pp 109–110.  3 . Bannister LH. Alimentary system. In: Gray’s Anatomy, 38th ed.1995. Churchill Livingstone medical division of Langman, London, pp 1795–1807 4 . Esra   Cetin   Æ   Mehmet   Ali   Malas   Æ   Soner   Albay   Æ   Neslihan   Cankara.   “The   development   of   stomach   during   the   fetal   period”   Surg   Radiol   Anat 2006;28:438–446 5 . Nagata   S,   Koyanagi   T,   Horimoto   N,   Satoh   S,   Nakano   H.   Chronological   development   of   the   fetal   stomach   assessed   using   real-time   ultrasound.   Early   Hum Dev 1990;22(1):15–22.   6 . Hawass  NE, al-Badawi MG, Fatani JA, et al : Morphology and growth of the fetal stomach . Invest Radiol 1991;26(11):998–1004.