COMPARISON OF VAGINOSONOGRAPHIC AND ABDOM INOSONOGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTSWITH EMBRYOLOGICAL GROWTH-CURVES IN EARLY-PREGNANCY

Body lengths and chorionic diameters of 225 early pregnancies with kno wn fertilisation age, measured by transvaginal sonography (TVS), were compared with measuring results of measurements from abdominal ultraso und and of embryological specimen from the literature. The TVS measuri ng results were made according to the Carnegie classification. It is s hown that the growth curve obtained by TVS is very similar to valid em broyological growth curves, although the ''Greatest Length'' (GL) is m easured by sonography not the Crown-Rump-Length (CRL). Between the six th and eighth gestational week, the TVS curve shows strong resemblance to abdominosonographical curves. After that period, the TVS results t end to be systematically lower. The earliest TVS measurement of the hu man embryo in possible in the sixth gestational week, one week earlier than with abdominal ultrasound. There is a good correlation between t he development of a structure and its earliest detection by TVS, activ e movements of the embryo can even be shown earlier than assumed by em bryologists (stage 20/ninth week of gestation). Due to terminological reasons, in ultrasound the established term ,,Crown-Rump-Length'' shou ld be replaced by ,,Greatest Length''. In a TVS-examination of an embr yo (gestational weeks 4 to 11), morphological criteria must be additio nal contributions to the determination of maturity and integrity of a pregnancy. The application of the specimen-derived Carnegie classifica tion to TVS measurements seem to be possible, as well as the utilizati on of TVS results in embryology.