Transabdominal evaluation of uterine cervical length during pregnancy fails to identify a substantial number of women with a short cervix

Abstract

Objective: To assess the diagnostic performance of transabdominal sonographic measurement of cervical length in identifying patients with a short cervix. Methods: Cervical length was measured in 220 pregnant women using transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound (US). Reproducibility and agreement between and within both methods were assessed. The diagnostic accuracy of transabdominal US for identifying cases with a cervical length Results: Twenty-one out of 220 cases (9.5%) had a cervical length n = 9) of patients with a short cervix were correctly identified by transabdominal US. In patients with a cervical length of Conclusion: Transabdominal measurement overestimated cervical LOA by 8 mm among women with a short cervix and resulted in the underdiagnosis of 57% of cases.