Clinical Significance of Lower Uterine Segment Thickness in Term Pregnancy.

Lee, Eun Sil; Kim, Gwang Jun

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2006;49(6):1332-1337.
Published online June 1, 2006.

Clinical Significance of Lower Uterine Segment Thickness in Term Pregnancy.

Eun Sil Lee, Gwang Jun Kim

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Chungang University, Seoul, Korea. cauob@hanmail.net

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of lower uterine segment thickness in predicting an actual delivery date and to determine the factors affecting the depth of lower uterine segment. METHODS: Sixty patients with singleton gestation were weekly measured for their lower uterine segment (LUS), cervical length, cervical gland thickness and AFI by ultrasonography from 36 weeks. The regression analysis was carried to find out the relevance between LUS and the remaining days to birth and Pearson correlation analysis was performed for relevance between LUS and other factors such as maternal age, parity, cervical length, cervical gland thickness, and AFI. RESULTS: LUS became thin as cervical length decreasing. However, the relevance between LUS and other factors such as age, parity, cervical gland thickness, and AFI was not found. While individual LUS thickness is decreasing as delivery date becomes closer, LUS thickness as a group is found not to be related with the delivery date. CONCLUSION: In term pregnancy, LUS thickness decreases with cervical change but it cannot predict the delivery date.

Key Words: Lower uterine segment thickness, Cervical length, Delivery date