Sonographic Lower Uterine Segment Thickness to Predict Cesarean Scar Defect in Pregnant Women:

Nichapat Pahirah; Wipada Laosooksathit; Kittipong Kongsomboon; Maethaphan Kitporntheranunt

doi:10.33192/Smj.2021.43

Authors

Nichapat Pahirah Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8113-8084
Wipada Laosooksathit Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, 26120, Thailand. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-1415
Kittipong Kongsomboon Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, 26120, Thailand. http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6105-5775
Maethaphan Kitporntheranunt Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, 26120, Thailand. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5794-9810

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33192/Smj.2021.43

Keywords:

Sonography, lower uterine segment, cesarean scar, term pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: To study the validity of sonographic lower uterine segment (LUS) thickness in predicting intraoperative cesarean scar defect (CSD) and thin incision sites in term pregnancy.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 111 full-term pregnant women who were scheduled for repeat cesarean delivery from April, 2019 to January, 2020. The sonographic myometrial LUS thickness was measured prior to surgery. The cesarean scar was assessed using the morphologic classification system as either grade 1 (a normally formed LUS), grade 2 (a thin LUS, but without visible content), or grade 3 (a thin LUS with visible content). Then, the ophthalmic caliper was used to measure the incision site’s uterine-wall thickness. The correlations between the sonographic measurements and intraoperative findings were reported. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated.
Results: There were two cases (1.8%) of grade 3 CSD. The overall correlation between the sonographic and intraoperative incision-site thickness showed r=0.559 with p-value < 0.001. The sonographic cut-off value of 1.5 mm could predict CSD and a thin incision-site uterine wall with sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of 50.0%, 90.8%, 9.1%, 99.0%, and 37.5%, 94.6%, 54.5%, 90.0%, respectively. A receiver operating characteristic curve was generated to determine the optimum cut-off value at 2.5 mm with a sensitivity of 76.5% and a specificity of 73.3%. The area under the curve was 0.8 (a 95% confidence interval, 0.718-0.885).
Conclusion: Abdominal sonography is a valuable tool for the preoperative prediction of CSD. A myometrial LUS thickness of more than 1.5 mm is associated with a lower likelihood of cesarean scar dehiscence.

Author Biography

Nichapat Pahirah, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

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