Usefulness of cervical volume with cervical length in predicting imminent preterm delivery in symptomatic patients.

Utilidad del volumen cervical o longitud cervical en la predicción de parto pretérmino inminente en pacientes sintomáticas

Introduction: Cervical volume is an indicator of the cervical remodeling process. Previous research has indicated that it may surpass prognostic accuracy of cervical length in predicting preterm delivery. Objective: To establish the usefulness of cervical volume with cervical length in predicting imminent preterm delivery in symptomatic patients. Materials and methods: Prospective study performed from June 2014 to May 2020 in patients with a diagnosis of threatened preterm delivery. All patients underwent quantification of cervical volume and length by transvaginal ultrasound within one hour of admission. Patients were divided into patients with deliveries before 7 days (group A) and those with deliveries beyond 7 days (group B). Results: For the final analysis of the investigation, 326 patients were included, of which 152 women (31.7%) were in group A and 251 patients in group B. Patients in group A had lower values of cervical volume and cervical length compared to patients with patients in group B (p < 0.0001). Cervical volume showed an area under the curve value of 0.897 compared to 0.977 for cervical length for prediction of imminent preterm delivery (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Cervical volume is less useful than cervical length in predicting imminent preterm delivery in symptomatic patients.

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