Endovaginal ultrasound in patients at risk for repeated abortion

Transvaginal echography was used to examine 78 asymptomatic patients at their first ultrasound examination, at risk for repeated abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to evidentiate, in the initial stages of pregnancy, reliable echographical evidence that can be used as a prognostic value on the future course of pregnancy. The normal sequential appearance of the yolk sac of the embryo and of the fetal heart activity have proved to be reassuring criteria on the course of pregnancy in 87% of the cases. Non-echographic visualization of the yolk sac has been associated in 48% of the cases to short-term abortion, whereas an abnormally low embryonic growth rate represents a risk-factor for medium-term abortion in this group of patients.