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“Empty” sac in pregnant women with bleeding: Are measurements answering the right question?

✍ Scribed by Seerat Aziz; Richard C. Cho; Diana B. Baker; Chloe Chhor; Roy A. Filly


Book ID
102331315
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2009
Tongue
English
Weight
101 KB
Volume
37
Category
Article
ISSN
0091-2751

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✦ Synopsis


Abstract

Purpose.

To assess the percentage of first‐trimester pregnancies with bleeding that demonstrate a visible sac but lack an identifiable embryo and have a mean sac diameter (MSD) in the controversial range of 16–20 mm.

Methods.

Retrospective study of all first‐trimester sonograms among women with vaginal bleeding during a 4‐year interval.

Results.

The study cohort consisted of 546 first‐ trimester sonograms. An embryo was not seen in 132 cases (24%). Of these, the MSD in 69 cases (52%) was <16 mm, between 16 and 19 mm in 20 cases (15%), or ≥20 mm in 39 cases (30%). The percentage of women who were threatening to abort who demonstrated a visible sac but lacked an identifiable embryo and had a MSD in the controversial range of 16–20 mm was 3.7% (20/546).

Conclusion.

We found that of 546 sonograms undertaken in pregnant women with vaginal bleeding in the first trimester, only 20 patients (3.7%) fell in the MSD range of 16–20 mm. Therefore, even among those diagnosticians who adopt the most stringent criterion (MSD = 20 mm), an additional examination would be requested in fewer than 1 in 25 patients. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2009


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