A Comparative Study between Transabdominal and Transvaginal Ultrasound Techniques in Early Detection of Ectopic Pregnancy

Abstract

Aim of the study : to assess the diagnostic accuracy of transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound technique in the detection of ectopic pregnancy among pregnant women, to compare and evaluate the transabdominal ultrasound findings with that of transvaginal ultrasound findings and to determine which of the ultrasound findings are more likely to indicate the presence of an ectopic pregnancy. The cross sectional study was carried out in the department of Radiology and Imaging, Elweya Hospital, Fatimat AL-Zahraa Hospital and Baghdad Hospital, from October 2020 to April 2021 to compare the accuracy of transvaginal ultrasonography and transabdominal ultrasonography in early detection of clinical suspected cases of ectopic pregnancy. The present study consists of 81 cases of clinical suspicion of ectopic pregnancy. The patients underwent both transvaginal and transabdominal ultrasonography. “Operative diagnosis” was considered gold standard against which accuracies of two diagnostic modalities were compared. Transabdominal ultrasound technique showed a sensitivity (77.9% ), specificity (25%) , positive predictive value (95.2%) , negative predictive value (5.5%) and accuracy of transabdominal ultrasonography as a diagnostic modality in early detection of suspected ectopic pregnancy were (75.3%) . whereas transvaginal ultrasonography was found to have 96.1%% sensitivity, 75%% specificity, 98.6% positive predictive value, 50% negative predictive value and 95.1% accuracy. Transvaginal ultrasound technique was superior to transabdominal ultrasonography in early detection of suspected ectopic pregnancies .so, transvaginal ultrasonography is important for early and accurate diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy.