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Early Pregnancy Ultrasound

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Ultrasound Imaging in Reproductive Medicine

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Abstract

Early pregnancy ultrasound is performed to assess the location of a pregnancy (intrauterine or extrauterine) and its viability. It also appraises the number of embryos and their chorionicity and amnionicity and often is instrumental in predicting the development, and dictates the management, of a pregnancy in the second and third trimester. Among the main objectives of the early pregnancy ultrasound are correct dating, evaluation of early pregnancy landmarks and placental location, and distinguishing normal from abnormal pregnancy. In addition, first trimester ultrasound allows evaluation of the ovaries and the corpus luteum.

Temporally, the first structure to be appreciated by ultrasound is the gestational sac, followed by the yolk sac, the embryo, and, when present, the embryonal cardiac activity. There is general consensus that the best technique to assess the early pregnancy is by transvaginal ultrasound: the higher resolution and the closer proximity of the transvaginal transducer allow the identification of structures such as a 2-mm gestational sac, or a 1-mm yolk sac, in addition to allowing excellent anatomical details of the embryo. In this chapter we will describe the evaluation of the first trimester singleton and multiple pregnancy using the transvaginal ultrasound technique.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Memphis, TN, USA

    Laura Detti

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  1. Laura Detti
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Correspondence to Laura Detti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Laurel A. Stadtmauer

  2. Institute for Human Reproduction, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ilan Tur-Kaspa

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Detti, L. (2019). Early Pregnancy Ultrasound. In: Stadtmauer, L., Tur-Kaspa, I. (eds) Ultrasound Imaging in Reproductive Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16699-1_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16699-1_23

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16698-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16699-1

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