The July issue of Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology includes a Systematic Review on the accuracy of saline contrast sonohysterography in detecting endometrial polyps in women with postmenopausal bleeding, an Expert Consensus on methods and considerations concerning cardiac output measurement in pregnant women, a study on echocardiography, clinical outcome and genetic analysis in 53 cases of fetal cardiac tumor, and a study on the application of artificial intelligence to amniotic fluid metabolomics and proteomics in the prediction of perinatal outcome in asymptomatic pregnant women with short cervical length.

Please see below a selection of articles from the July issue of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology chosen specially by the UOG team. To view all UOG content, become an ISUOG member today or login and upgrade.

Diagnostic accuracy of saline contrast sonohysterography in detecting endometrial polyps in women with postmenopausal bleeding: systematic review and meta-analysis

In women with postmenopausal bleeding, endometrial polyps are a frequent finding and the risk of a focal (pre)malignancy in a polyp is up to 6%. Saline contrast sonohysterography (SCSH) is a less invasive and expensive method for detecting endometrial polyps than is hysteroscopy. In this Systematic Review, Vroom et al. assessed the accuracy of SCSH for diagnosis of endometrial polyps in women with postmenopausal bleeding, using both hysteroscopy and diagnosis on histopathology as the reference standards. It was found that, provided the SCSH examination is of optimal quality, it can be used to stratify these women for further diagnostic workup and treatment with hysteroscopy (download the accompanying Journal Club slides).

Methods and considerations concerning cardiac output measurement in pregnant women: recommendations of the International Working Group on Maternal Hemodynamics

Several techniques for the measurement of cardiac output have been developed and subsequently adopted in obstetrics, often without proper validation in pregnant women. In this Export Consensus, Bijl et al. describe and compare methods and devices for cardiac output measurement, and provide recommendations for their use in pregnancy, with the aim of standardizing the assessment of cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance in clinical practice and research studies on maternal hemodynamics. Methods are evaluated with regards to factors such as the degree of invasiveness and operator dependency, availability, cost, accuracy and whether the technique has been validated in pregnancy.

Fetal cardiac tumor: echocardiography, clinical outcome and genetic analysis in 53 cases

While cardiac rhabdomyomas are benign, they may be the initial manifestation of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) which often has a poor prognosis. Chen et al. analyzed the echocardiographic and clinical features in 53 cases of fetal cardiac tumors detected by fetal echocardiography and performed familial genetic testing simultaneously in order to analyze the relationship between cardiac rhabdomyoma and TSC. It was found that cardiac rhabdomyoma is the most common cardiac tumor in the fetus, and its correlation with TSC is strong regardless of the presence of single or multiple tumors.

Artificial intelligence and amniotic fluid multiomics: prediction of perinatal outcome in asymptomatic women with short cervix

Omics-based analyses of amniotic fluid, including metabolomics analysis, could potentially generate novel biomarkers to improve the prediction of pregnancy outcome in women with a short cervix. Artificial intelligence is now being evaluated in specific areas of healthcare to further improve diagnostic accuracy. Bahado-Singh et al. evaluated the application of artificial intelligence to amniotic fluid metabolomics and proteomics, alone and in combination with sonographic, clinical and demographic factors, to predict perinatal outcome in asymptomatic pregnant women with short cervical length. It was found that that, using these combined factors, machine learning, particularly deep learning, achieved good to excellent predictive accuracy in these women in the second trimester.

Also out this month is a new free-access Virtual Issue on urogynecology, containing a selection of recent papers from The White Journal.

Coming up in the next issue of UOG…

  • A Systematic Review on the effectiveness on fertility outcome of tubal flushing with different contrast media. Read the EarlyView article now and look out in August for an accompanying video abstract.
  • A selection of papers on different aspects of fetal brain imaging.

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