SONOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF THE MECHANISM OF LABOR-OUR PRELIMINARY EXPERIENCE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53582/kkh9v036Keywords:
Key words: intrapartum ultrasound, angle of progression, fetal head-perineum distance, time of deliveryAbstract
Introduction: Intrapartum ultrasound evaluation is a contemporary diagnostic tool that provides insight into the process of normal labor and assists in its monitoring. Standardized mathematical parameters are used to assess the relationship between defined landmarks on the fetal head and structures of the soft and bony tissues of the birth canal.
Aim: This study was designed to show that intrapartum sonographic parameters, primarily the angle of progression and the distance between the fetal head and maternal perineum, are equally effective in the management of labor progress, as vaginal digital examinations.
Material and methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted involving 50 laboring women who were admitted at the delivery department of the University Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynecology in Skopje. They were all in the active stage of labor and were evaluated with intrapartum ultrasound, both transabdominal and transperineal, during the first, second and third hours after admission.
Results: An increase in the angle of progression and a decrease in the distance between the fetal head and the maternal perineum can help in predicting the mode of delivery and the time interval to delivery.
Conclusion: Introducing intrapartum ultrasound as a complementary tool to the digital vaginal examinations, offers new perspectives in the perinatology, with a unique opportunity for modification and modernization of the traditional protocols for management of labor and delivery, still used across the modern countries worldwide.
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