Diagnosis of early pregnancy with A-mode ultrasound. A preliminary report

An A-mode ultrasonic analyzer was used to detect pregnancy and to determine gestational age in 102 patients, 77 of whom were pregnant and 25 of whom were not pregnant. All pregnant patients were in the first trimester. Polaroid photographs were taken of the echo pattern display and diagnosis was compared with that of the clinical examination. Results indicate, using only the Polaroid photograph of the patient's A-scope echo pattern, it is possible to (1) diagnose pregnancy with an accuracy rate of 87.2% and (2) estimate the week of gestation, within a tolerance of 21 days of the clinical examination, with an accuracy rate of 84.5%.