Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development

To assess the value of transvaginal ultrasonography and transvaginal colour Doppler imaging in characterizing the Intervillous circulation in normal and abnormal pregnancy.

Cross-sectional study. Setting: AL-Elwiya Maternity Teaching Hospital, Baghdad-Iraq. Main outcome measures: Comparison of detection the moving echoes in the Intervillous circulation with greyscale and colour Doppler imaging in normal and abnormal early pregnancies.

162 pregnant women fulfilled the criteria for the inclusion in this study were evaluating for diagnosis and fate of pregnancy. All of the pregnant women were subjected to transvaginal ultrasound and transvaginal colour Doppler imaging examination only once time by using 5-MHz curve liner transvaginal probe, with pulsed colour and power Doppler facilities and real time grey-scale ultrasound were used to evaluate the placenta anatomy and to detect the moving echoes inside the Intervillous space at peripheral and central areas. 67 pregnant women has been subjected to both above examinations at 7–9 weeks, 53 of total 162 at 10–11 weeks and the rest 42 at 12–14 weeks of pregnancy.

A significant different distribution of blood flow was found between normal and abnormal pregnancies at 7–9 weeks and 10–11 weeks but not at 12–14 weeks. There is no difference in the use of the transvaginal ultrasound and transvaginal colour Doppler imaging, regarding the efficiency of the equipment but it remain dependable on the efficiency of the sonographist.

Early prediction of pregnancy that ended with abortion during the first trimester for any reason (Genetic, Immunological, Infectious) can be studied by simple methods like transvaginal ultrasound (grayscale) and transvaginal colour Doppler ultrasound and useful for the prediction of pregnancy fate.