Intrapartum Sonography versus Digital Vaginal Examination in the First Stage of Labor for Prediction of the Progress of Labor

Objective: The agreement of fetal head position examined by digital vaginal examination (DVE) and intrapartum sonographic signs (ISS) in pregnant women during labor. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Two hundred eight-term singleton pregnant women attending labor at Ramathibodi Hospital, Thailand with the fetal cephalic presentation, cervical dilatation of 4 to 8 cm, station –2 or below and no contraindication for DVE were enrolled. The DVE evaluating fetal head position was performed by the third-year obstetrical residents. After DVE, ISS via transabdominal ultrasound for determining fetal head position was obtained immediately by the first researcher. The DVE report and the ultrasonographic images of ISS were recorded separately. The fetal head position based on ISS was designated by the second researcher blinded to the DVE result. The agreement of DVE and ISS for determining fetal head position was analyzed. Results: Two hundred eight pregnant women were analyzed. The fetal head position detected by DVE was consistent with that of ISS at 41.3% (p<0.001). The most percent agreement was observed in the fetus with left occiput anterior position at 72.7% (p<0.001). The lowest percent agreement was found in the direct occiput posterior at 14.3% (p=0.243). Parity, gestational age, current body mass index, epidural analgesia, cervical effacement, caput succedaneum, molding, and station did not significantly affect the discrepancy between DVE and ISS. Conclusion: The agreement between DVE and ISS for evaluating the fetal head position was low. The ISS might be considered for evaluating the fetal head position. Keywords: Fetal head position, Intrapartum sonographic sign, Digital vaginal examination

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The Assessment of Intrapartum Transperineal Ultrasonographic Parameters for their Effectiveness in Evaluation of Progress of Labor and Prediction of Mode of Delivery in Egyptian Women

Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences ◽

10.3889/oamjms.2021.7049 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (B) ◽

pp. 1037-1043

Author(s):

Gamal Abdelsameea Ibrahim ◽

Ahmed Soliman Nasr ◽

Fatma Atta ◽

Mohamed Reda ◽

Hend Abdelghany ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vaginal Delivery ◽

Ultrasound Examination ◽

Mode Of Delivery ◽

Transperineal Ultrasound ◽

Ultrasound Measurement ◽

Vaginal Examination ◽

Fetal Head ◽

Prolonged Labor ◽

Digital Vaginal Examination ◽

Angle Of Progression

Introduction: High fetal head station has been associated with prolonged labor and delivery outcomes. Although clinical assessment of fetal head station is both subjective and unreliable, women with prolonged labor are subjected to multiple digital vaginal examinations. The use of ultrasound has been proposed to aid in the management of labor since 1990s. Ultrasound examination is more accurate and reproducible than clinical examination in the diagnosis of fetal head station and in the prediction of arrest of labor. Ultrasound examination can, to some extent, distinguish those women destined for spontaneous vaginal delivery and those destined for operative delivery and may predict the outcome of instrumental vaginal delivery. Such a technique has the potential to reduce the frequency of intrusive internal examinations and associated infection and could be useful in allowing the assessment of women in whom digital VE is traumatic or contra-indicated. Intrapartum ultrasound not only provides objective and quantitative data in labor, but also helps to make more reliable clinical decisions aiming to improve obstetric outcomes of both the mother and fetus as a supplementary tool for active management. Aim of the work: This study aims at assessing the value of intrapartum transperineal ultrasonography as a quantitative and objective tool in the evaluation of progress of labor and prediction of mode of delivery. Subjects: This study was a prospective observational study conducted on 600 primiparous women in active first stage of labor admitted to Kasr Al Ainy maternity hospital from January 2017 to June 2018. The studied population was divided into two groups. Group A of 300 women with normal progress of labor and group B of 300 women with prolonged 1st stage of labor. Methods: Fetal head station(FHS) was assessed clinically by digital vaginal examination (dVE) and sonographically by transperineal ultrasound measurement of head perineal distance (HPD) and angle of progression (AOP). Intrapartum care of the patient continued as normal based only on digital vaginal examinations using the modified WHO partogram. (1). Statistical analysis was targeted towards assessing the potential of the intrapartum ultrasonography in the evaluation of progress of labor and prediction of mode of delivery. Results: All studied parameters for assessment of FHS (dVE, HPD, and AOP) significantly corelated with each other and with both progress of labor and mode of delivery with P value (<0.001). The highest sensitivity for prediction of progress of labor is observed using dVE (83%), the highest specificity is observed using AOP (78.3%). The highest sensitivity for prediction mode of delivery is for combined HPD & AOP (97.7%) while the highest specificity is for AOP (81%). When combining both HPD and AOP for prediction of mode of delivery, the assessment of both parameters was found to have a high sensitivity of 97.7% and a high positive predictive value of 86.63%. Conclusion: Intrapartum ultrasound examination is a valuable tool in the prediction of progress of labor and mode of delivery. The assessment of fetal head station by transperineal ultrasound measurement of HPD and AOP is much more informative of the progress of labor and the mode of delivery than digital assessment of fetal head station. Keywords: Labor, intrapartum ultrasound, Angle of progression, Head perineal distance, fetal head station, digital vaginal examination.

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Fetal Head Position during the First Stage of Labor: Comparison between Vaginal Examination and Transabdominal Ultrasound

ISRN Obstetrics and Gynecology ◽

10.1155/2014/314617 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jyothi Shetty ◽

Vinod Aahir ◽

Deeksha Pandey ◽

Prashanth Adiga ◽

Asha Kamath

Keyword(s):

Head Position ◽

Transabdominal Ultrasound ◽

Vaginal Examination ◽

Fetal Head ◽

Kappa Test ◽

Tertiary Center ◽

Correct Determination ◽

Fetal Head Position ◽

First Stage Of Labor

Introduction. Recent evidence indicates that clinical examination, for determination of fetal head position, is subjective and inaccurate. Present study was aimed to compare transabdominal ultrasound for fetal head position with vaginal examination during first stage of labor. Material and Methods. This prospective study was performed at a tertiary center during a two-year period. Before or after clinically indicated vaginal examinations, transverse suprapubic transabdominal real-time ultrasound fetal head position assessment was done. Frequencies of various ultrasound depicted fetal head positions were compared with position determined at vaginal examination. Results. In only 31.5% of patients, fetal head position determinations by vaginal examinations were consistent with those obtained by ultrasound. Cohen’s Kappa test of concordance indicated a poor concordance of 0.15. Accuracy of vaginal examination increased to 66% when fetal head position at vaginal examination was recorded correct if reported within +45° of the ultrasound assessment. Rate of agreement between the two assessment methods for consultants versus residents was 36% and 26%, respectively (P=0.17). Conclusion. We found that vaginal examination was associated with a high error rate in fetal head position determination. Data supports the idea that intrapartum transabdominal ultrasound enhances correct determination of fetal head position during first stage of labor.

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