A novel method for evaluating uterine cervical consistency using vaginal ultrasound gray-level histogram
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Tomoyuki Kuwata
Abstract
Aims: To evaluate uterine cervical consistency using a vaginal ultrasound gray-level histogram.
Methods: Vaginal ultrasound and digital examination were performed for 214 women with low-risk singleton pregnancy during 27–30th pregnancy week. The mean gray-level (MGL) of an ultrasound gray-level histogram, representing the echogenicity of a region of interest, was measured in the midsection of anterior and posterior cervical walls. The difference in MGL between anterior and posterior (AP difference) was related to the Bishop sub-score for cervical consistency (0, 1, or 2), determined before ultrasound.
Results: A larger positive AP difference indicated significantly lower Bishop sub-score. After analyzing the receiver operator characteristic curves for the AP difference, a value of 1.42 and –1.98 was the best cut-off value to determine a hard cervix (score 0) and a soft cervix (score 2), respectively. To identify a hard cervix, this test had 71% sensitivity and 82% specificity. For a soft cervix, it was 66% and 87%, respectively.
Conclusions: A more echogenic anterior than posterior cervix indicates a hard cervix; the greater the difference in echogenicity between anterior and posterior walls the harder the cervix. The difference in MGL of the ultrasound gray-level histogram may enable objective evaluation of cervical consistency.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- Review article
- Monochorionic twin pregnancy: screening, pathogenesis of complications and management in the era of microinvasive fetal surgery
- Original articles – Obstetrics
- Longitudinal examination of cervical volume and vascularization changes during the antepartum and postpartum period using three-dimensional and power Doppler ultrasound
- Uterine and umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry as a predictor for adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with anemia
- Prooxidant-antioxidant balance in pregnancy: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of selenium supplementation
- Two-stage transvaginal cervical length screening for preterm birth in twin pregnancies
- The relationship between placental histology and cervical length in twin gestations
- A novel method for evaluating uterine cervical consistency using vaginal ultrasound gray-level histogram
- Microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in pregnancies with small-for-gestational-age fetuses
- Microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in preeclampsia as assessed by cultivation and sequence-based methods
- Original articles – Fetus
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- Calprotectin in human cord blood: relation to perinatal parameters and restricted fetal growth
- Original articles – Newborn
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- Early protective effect of hypothermia in newborn pigs after hyperoxic, but not after normoxic, reoxygenation
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- Letter to the editor
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