Cervical Gland Area As An Ultrasound Marker For Prediction of Preterm Delivery: A Cohort Study

Background: preterm labor is a major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality and it might be predicted by assessing the cervical change. objective: to assess the association between absence of cervical gland area (cga) and spontaneous preterm labor (sptl). materials and methods: this prospective cohort study was performed on 200 singleton pregnant women with a history of sptl, second-trimester abortion in the previous pregnancy or lower abdominal pain in current pregnancy. each patient underwent one transvaginal ultrasound examination between 14-28 wk of gestation. cervical length was measured and cga was identified and their relationship with sptl before 35 and 37 wk gestation was evaluated using stata software version 10. results: the mean of cervical length was 36.5 mm (sd=8.4), the shortest measurement was 9 mm, and the longest one was 61 mm. short cervical length (≤18mm) was significantly associated with sptl before 35 and 37 wk gestation. cervical gland area (the hypoechogenic or echogenic area around the cervical canal) was present in 189 (94.5%) patients. absent of cga had a significant relationship with sptl before 35 and 37 wk gestation (p=0.01 and p<0.001, respectively). cervical length was shorter in women with absent cga in comparison with subjects with present cga: 37±10 mm in cga present group and 23±9 mm in cga absent group (p<0.001). conclusion: our study showed that cervical gland area might be an important predictor of sptl which should be confirmed with further researches.