BIOMETRY OF EARLY-PREGNANCY WITH TRANSVAGINAL SONOGRAPHY

A prospective cross-sectional study was performed in 248 pregnant wome n between 5 and 12 weeks' menstrual age with transvaginal sonography t o establish biometric charts of the gestational sac, embryonic crown-r ump length and biparietal diameter, amniotic sac and yolk sac to be us ed for assessment of gestational age and prediction of pregnancy failu re. Polynomial regression analysis was applied and demonstrated a stat istically significant positive correlation that could be described in all cases as a quadratic function, between gestational age and all the measurements with the exclusion of the yolk sac. Centile charts of bo th growth models and dating models were tabulated. The interrelationsh ip between different measurements, including the gestational sac, crow n-rump length, biparietal diameter and amniotic sac was also evaluated to produce age-independent charts. The dating model of the crown-rump length was found to have mean values similar to those described in tr ansabdominal studies. The 95% reference interval was, however, 8.6 day s, which was not lower than those reported in most transabdominal stud ies. It was concluded that transvaginal sonography was more able than the abdominal route to allow measurement of the crown-rump length in v ery early gestation, but did not yield a greater accuracy in predictin g gestational age.