The value of ultrasonographic examination of the uterine cervix in predicting post-term pregnancy
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Antonella Vimercati
Abstract
Object: To assess whether transvaginal ultrasound is helpful in predicting the post-term onset of labor (≥ 1 weeks).
Setting: Antenatal clinic of a University hospital and referral center.
Subject and mehods: One hundred and twenty singleton uncomplicated pregnancies in primiparous women were enrolled at 37 weeks of gestation. Ultrasound examination of the cervical length by a transvaginal probe was performed at recruitment and at weekly intervals until 40 completed weeks. Subjects were divided into Group A (those with spontaneous onset of labor ≤ 1 completed weeks) and Group B (those not in labor by that date).
Results: Eighty women delivered ≤ 41 completed weeks, forty were not in labor by that date. The cervix was significantly shorter at 39 and 40 weeks in group A, but no particular cervical length was predictive of post-term delivery.
Discussion: There is a significant difference in cervical length in women delivering at term compared with those due to have a post-term delivery. This difference is significant from 39 weeks of gestation onwards. We speculate that targeted transvaginal ultrasound may be useful in predicting the post-term onset of labor and possibly in assisting its active management.
Copyright © 2001 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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Articles in the same Issue
- The first 40 years – a subjective review
- The effect of postnatal steroids on growth and development
- Mild maternal undernutrition in the first half of ovine pregnancy influences placental morphology but not fetal Doppler flow velocity waveforms and fetal heart size
- Longitudinal study of fatty acids in plasma and erythrocyte phospholipids during pregnancy
- Women’s perceptions and experiences of childbirth in United Arab Emirates
- A role for the 72 kDa gelatinase (MMP-2) and its inhibitor (TIMP-2) in human parturition, premature rupture of membranes and intraamniotic infection
- The value of ultrasonographic examination of the uterine cervix in predicting post-term pregnancy
- Maternal complications associated with cesarean section
- Patent ductus arteriosus in very low birthweight infants: complications of pharmacological and surgical treatment
- Bedside functional imaging of the premature infant brain during passive motor activation
- Effects of selective inhibition of the Endothelin A and B receptors on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in newborn piglets
- Surfactant lavage and replacement in meconium aspiration syndrome with pulmonary hemorrhage
- Gelastic seizures in clusters in a case of West syndrome after perinatal hypothalamic hemorrhage
- Fetal pulse oximetry is a safe method during high-risk delivery
- WAPM-Newsletter No 2
