الفهرس 
PRETERM BIRTH (PTB)Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: The cervical length (CL) measurement is a widely used method to estimate the risk of preterm birth. Due in particular to the high false-positive rate, the establishment of markers with improved test characteristics is a great challenge. A potential predictor of preterm birth is the uterocervical angle (UCA) and this additional measurement may improve the risk assessment.
Objectives: to evaluate the role of the Uterocervical angle (UCA) in comparison with the Cervical length (CL) measurements in Preterm birth (PTB) prediction.
Methodology: This was a prospective cohort study carried out on 120 asymptomatic primigravida women at low risk of preterm labor (PTL), attending the Gynecology and Obstetrics department at Fayoum University Hospital, Uterocervical angle and cervical length were measured by transvaginal ultrasound. Maternal history and pregnancy data were recorded. Delivery data were subsequently collected.
Results: In the current study we included 120 women asymptomatic of sPTB, with an average age of (21.79 ±3.3) years old, an average BMI (24.6 ±5.8) kg/ m2, and an average GA at delivery of (38.46 ±1.98) weeks. Out of the studied 120 women (15) 12.5% experienced a preterm birth. Uterocervical angle was significantly larger among preterm group as compared with term group (110.17 ±14.93 vs. 125.00 ±15.35, p<0.001). Cervical length measured by single- and two-lines methods; CL was significantly shorter among pre-term women as compared with term. There was an inverse linear moderate correlation between GA and UCA (r= -0.370, p<0.001).
There was a positive linear moderate correlation between GA and CL-one line (r= 0.260, p=0.004). Also, a positive linear strong correlation between GA and CL-two lines (r= 0.716, p<0.001). Using ROC curve analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of UCA and CL for prediction of pre-term birth was evaluated.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that the UCA is a potential novel screening tool for the prediction of sPTB. UCA is a better predictor of sPTB than CL. However, detection rates of sPTB can further be improved if combined with other parameters such as CL, maternal demographic and obstetric history.
Key Words: Uterocervical Angle, Cervical Length, Asymptomatic Preterm Labor.