Fetal speckle-tracking echocardiography: a comparison between two-dimensional and electronic spatio-temporal image correlation (e-STIC) technique.

Background: Speckle tracking technology has been applied to assess ventricular deformation throughout the cardiac cycle. An electronic four dimensional probe that allows rapid acquisition of electronic spatio-temporal image correlation volumes (eSTIC) has been recently introduced.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate whether e-STIC acquisition improves deformation analyses reproducibility.

Maternal hemodynamic assessment by USCOM device in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Background: Preeclampsia is a main obstetric disease and could be caused by the inability of the woman hemodynamic system to face the cardiovascular effort required by gestation.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the correlation between maternal hemodynamic parameters detected by UltraSonic Cardiac Output Monitor (USCOM) and ultrasound or biochemical parameters in women during the first-trimester screening of chromosomal abnormalities.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study with 162 women enrolled during the first-trimester ultrasound, recording demographic, biochemical and ultrasound data, including the pulsatility index of uterine arteries (UTPI).

The role of a new three-dimensional ultrasound technique in the diagnosis of levator ani muscle avulsion.

Aims: To evaluate the intermethod agreement between the tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI), considered as the gold standard, and the OmniView-VCI in the diagnosis of levator ani muscle (LAM) avulsion and in the measurement of levator-urethral gap (LUG).

Methods: We acquired dynamic 4D transperineal ultrasound volumes from 114 women. Each data set was analyzed on maximal pelvic floor contraction by TUI and OmniView-VCI techniques to check for LAM avulsion.

Longitudinal Changes of Subpubic Arch Angle throughout Pregnancy.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess whether the subpubic arch angle (SPA) changes throughout pregnancy.

Materials And Methods: We recruited a group of nulliparous women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Each woman was assessed 3 times throughout pregnancy, once per each trimester, by measuring SPA using a recently described highly reproducible three-dimensional transperineal ultrasound (linear reconstruction with contrast enhancement technique; OmniView-volume contrast imaging).

Reliability of transperineal ultrasound for the assessment of the angle of progression in labor using parasagittal approach versus midsagittal approach.

Objective: To assess the inter-method agreement between midsagittal (msAoP) and parasagittal (psAoP) measurements of the angle of progression (AoP) during labor. In addition, we aimed to evaluate the correlation between AoP measurements by both midsagittal and parasagittal approaches with the mode of delivery.

Methods: We recruited a nonconsecutive series of women in active labor with a singleton uncomplicated term pregnancy with fetuses in vertex presentation.

Dynamic changes of fetal head descent at term before the onset of labor correlate with labor outcome and can be improved by ultrasound visual feedback.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the dynamic changes of angle of progression (AoP) before the onset of labor and their correlation with labor outcome and to investigate the effect of visual feedback using transperineal ultrasound on maternal pushing.

Methods: We recruited a group of low-risk nulliparous women with singleton pregnancy at term. We measured AoP at rest, during pelvic floor contraction and Valsalva maneuver (before and after visual feedback).

The use of ultrasound in the evaluation of postpartum paravaginal hematomas.

Background: Paravaginal hematoma can be a severe postpartum complication. Diagnosis is challenging because signs and symptoms are often nonspecific. Most of the available literature about diagnostic imaging in these cases focuses on the use of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and there are very limited data on the use of sonography.

Contraction of the levator ani muscle during Valsalva maneuver (coactivation) is associated with a longer active second stage of labor in nulliparous women undergoing induction of labor.

Background: The Valsalva maneuver is normally accompanied by relaxation of the levator ani muscle, which stretches around the presenting part, but in some women the maneuver is accompanied by levator ani muscle contraction, which is referred to as levator ani muscle coactivation. The effect of such coactivation on labor outcome in women undergoing induction of labor has not been previously assessed.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of levator ani muscle coactivation on labor outcome, in particular on the duration of the second and active second stage of labor, in nulliparous women undergoing induction of labor.