Jung, Y.J., Kwon, H., Shin, J., Park, Y., Heo, S.J., Park, H.S., Oh, S.Y., Sung, J.H., Seol, H.J., Kim, H.M., Seong, W.J., Hwang, H.S., Jung, I. and Kwon, J.Y. (2021) The Feasibility of Cervical Elastography in Predicting Preterm Delivery in Singleton Pregnancy with Short Cervix Following Progesterone Treatment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, Article No. 2026.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042026

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Evaluating the Efficacy of Cervical Tactile Ultrasound Technique as a Predictive Tool for Spontaneous Preterm Birth

  AUTHORS: Vladimir Egorov, Todd Rosen, Jennifer Hill, Meena Khandelwal, Victors Kurtenoks, Brendan Francy, Noune Sarvazyan

  KEYWORDS: Cervical Elasticity, Spontaneous Preterm Birth, Tactile Ultrasound Probe

  JOURNAL NAME: Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol.14 No.5, May 24, 2024

  ABSTRACT: Background: Premature cervical softening and shortening may be considered an early mechanical failure that predispose to preterm birth. Purpose: This study aims to explore the applicability of an innovative cervical tactile ultrasound approach for predicting spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB). Materials and Methods: Eligible participants were women with low-risk singleton pregnancies in their second trimester, enrolled in this prospective observational study. A Cervix Monitor (CM) device was designed with a vaginal probe comprising four tactile sensors and a single ultrasound transducer operating at 5 MHz. The probe enabled the application of controllable pressure to the external cervical surface, facilitating the acquisition of stress-strain data from both anterior and posterior cervical sectors. Gestational age at delivery was recorded and compared against cervical elasticity. Results: CM examination data were analyzed for 127 women at 240/7 - 286/7 gestational weeks. sPTB was observed in 6.3% of the cases. The preterm group exhibited a lower average cervical stress-to-strain ratio (elasticity) of 0.70 ± 0.26 kPa/mm compared to the term group’s 1.63 ± 0.65 kPa/mm with a p-value of 1.1 × 10−4. Diagnostic accuracy for predicting spontaneous preterm birth based solely on cervical elasticity data was found to be 95.0% (95% CI, 88.5 - 100.0). Conclusion: These findings suggest that measuring cervical elasticity with the designed tactile ultrasound probe has the potential to predict spontaneous preterm birth in a cost-effective manner.