[How many ultrasound examinations for low-risk pregnancies monitoring?]

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the average number of ultrasounds per low-risk pregnancy and estimate the proportion of ultrasound scans without morphological examination of the fetus (non-morphological ultrasounds).

Research design and setting: Retrospective study conducted among patients who delivered at the University Hospital of Tours (France) between January 2012 and February 2012.

Participants: Women with a singleton pregnancy who delivered after 37weeks' gestation an eutrophic child.

Data collection: Distinction was made between morphological and non-morphological ultrasound examinations. The type of non-morphological ultrasound examination was analyzed.

Results and discussion: Among the 300 patients of the study, the average number of scans per patient was five (SD=1.9), which is higher than the three recommended ultrasounds for these low-risk pregnancies. In this study, 77% of patients were receiving more than three ultrasounds. Moreover, 28.1% of all ultrasound examinations were non-morphological examinations. Among them, 42.2% of examinations were performed in the third trimester of pregnancy. Among these non-morphological ultrasounds performed in the third trimester, there were 51.9% of fetal biometric measurements and cervical length measurements in 18.5% of cases. We believe that resorting to non-morphological ultrasounds during low-risk pregnancies is not censurable in itself and should even be promoted. Nevertheless, we should improve the relevance of all these examinations.

Keywords: Dépistage; Grossesse à bas risque; Low-risk pregnancy; Non-morphological ultrasound; Screening; Échographie non morphologique.