Can placental elasticity predict the time of delivery in cases of threatened preterm labor?

AIM: We aimed to evaluate placental elasticity for the short-time prediction of delivery in cases of threatened preterm labor (TPL).

METHODS

We performed a prospective study with consented pregnant women diagnosed with TPL (24th to 34th gestational week). According to the birth time, the patients were grouped into two groups, whether the delivery happened in the following first week or not. We compared the placental strain ratio (PSR) values between these two groups.

RESULTS

A total of 108 pregnant women divided into two groups according to the delivery time were enrolled in our study. The pregnant women who had a delivery in 1 week after hospitalization have increased PSR values when compared to those who have not delivered within 1 week (P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that cervical length and PSR were significantly associated with delivery in 1 week after hospitalization. When the cervical length was entered as a covariate (control) variable, PSR was significantly associated with delivery time (B = 0.504, odds ratio: 1.655, 95% confidence interval: 1.339-2.045, P < 0.001). A PSR value of 4.04 had a sensitivity of 77.78% and a specificity of 87.04% in terms of short-time prediction of the delivery time, in the receiver-operator curves analysis to determine the cut-off point PSR value.

CONCLUSION

Elastography may contribute to predict the delivery time in high-risk pregnants with TPL.