Uterocervical Angle At Second Trimester May Be A Marker For Preterm Birth Prediction

Backgrounds: At present prediction of preterm delivery is one of the most important problems of obstetrics world. If the cervical length at tranvaginal ultrasonography screening is in normal range, we tried to apply uterocervical angle to predict spontaneous preterm birth before 37weeks of gestations.Material and Method: Our study was a prospective observational study,that 240 women enrolled until then, of them 210 have finally finished the study. Pregnancies between 18 and 24 weeks of gestation, all of them were singleton and primi parous, with normal ranges cervical length upper than 25 mm with transvaginal ultrasound, so suitable to participate in study. Cervical length and uterocervical angle (UCA)were measured at the same time transvaginally by ultrasound. Birth information was composed, and analyzed.Result: From 240 mother ,20 cases left the study in order to medical termination and other reasons .Among 220 cases ,12 (5.4%), had preterm delivery under 37 weeks ,with labor pain or rupture of membranes. 208 cases delivered after 37 weeks of gestations º.All of 12 cases with cervical length of over 25 mm, had a wide UCA (over than 105º).from 208 cases 125(60%) had acute UCA (under 95 º )and 80 (38%) cases (between 95 º -105 º ) ,and only 2(0.9%) cases had over 105 º UCA.Conclusion: In normal cervical length ,preterm birth may be correlated to wide uterocervical angle , but large studies should be done