THE VALUE OF ROUTINE EARLY-PREGNANCY ULTRASOUND IN THE ANTENATAL BOOKING CLINIC

The value of routine antenatal booking ultasound as an adjunct to, or as an alternative to the 18 to 20 week ultrasound, is not known. A stu dy into the possible benefits of routine antenatal booking ultrasound was undertaken. One year's experience, involving 1,372 scans is descri bed. The main medical benefits include the establishment or correction of gestational age (41.7% of all pregnancies) and the identification of multiple pregnancies (0.7%), nonviable pregnancies (1.4%) and other pregnancies requiring specialist antenatal clinic referral (0.7%), re sulting in a total of 44.5% of patients in whom some benefit was obtai ned.