Objective: To assess the added value of maternal serum levels of IL-6 in women with preterm-prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) as a non-invasive test for the prediction of histological chorioamnionitis (HCA). Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of pregnant women between 20 + 0 and 36 + 6 weeks of gestation with a confirmed diagnosis of PPROM. Logistic regression models were created for the prediction of HCA and compared by assessing the improvement in their Naegelkerke R² as a measure of goodness of fit. Predictive performance of all models was assessed by receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis and compared by the DeLong method. Results: From 47 women with PPROM, 31 (66%) developed HCA. Maternal serum IL-6 ≥19.5 pg/dL was the best cut-off point for the prediction of HCA (OR = 15; 95% CI: 3.6–61; p < 0.01). A model comprising maternal characteristics and IL-6 ≥19.5 pg/dL showed an area under the curve of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.74–0.95), significantly improving the previous models of IL-6 ≥19.5 pg/dL (R²: 23.3 vs. 34.1%; p = 0.01) or maternal characteristics (R²: 8.4 vs. 34.1%; p < 0.01). Conclusions: A model comprising maternal serum levels of IL-6 plus maternal characteristics proves to be a good non-invasive predictor of HCA.

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Oral communication abstracts obstetrical ultrasound for patients in underserved rural and remote communities where this service is not available. The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of providing obstetrical ultrasound services remotely using a telerobotic ultrasound system in a remote community isolated due to COVID-19. Methods: A telerobotic ultrasound system was used to remotely perform obstetrical ultrasound exams in La Loche, Canada, a remote community without regular access to obstetrical ultrasound. Using a telerobotic ultrasound system, a sonographer 605km away remotely controlled an ultrasound probe and ultrasound settings. 21 exams were performed in a 5-week period during a COVID-19 outbreak, including limited first, second and third trimester exams (n = 11) and complete second trimester exams (n = 10). Radiologists interpreted all exams and determined adequacy of images for diagnosis. Results: Of 11 limited obstetrical exams, radiologists indicated images were adequate in 9 (81%) cases, adequate with some reservations in 1 (9%) case and inadequate in 1 (9%) case. Of 10 second trimester complete obstetrical exams, radiologists indicated images were adequate in 2 (20%) cases, adequate with some reservations in 3 (30%) cases and inadequate in 5 (50%) cases. Second trimester complete obstetrical exams were limited due to a combination of body habitus, fetal lie and telerobotic technology. Conclusions: A telerobotic ultrasound system may be used to answer focused clinical questions such as fetal viability and fetal presentation in a timely manner while minimising patient travel to larger centres and potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic may catalyse the implementation of telerobotic sonography to bring greater accessibility and equity in the delivery of obstetrical ultrasound to patients in rural and remote communities.

To evaluate the concordance of the risk of neonatal respiratory morbidity (NRM) assessed by quantitative ultrasound lung texture analysis (QuantusFLM) between twin fetuses of the same pregnancy. Prospective study conducted in twin pregnancies. Fetal ultrasound lung images were obtained at 26.0–38.6 weeks of gestation. Categorical (high or low) and continuous results of the risk of NRM were compared between twins. Fetal ultrasound lung images from 131 pairs (262 images) of twins were included. The images were classified into three gestational age ranges: Group 1 (26.0–29.6 weeks, 78 images, 39 pairs [29.8%]); Group 2 (30.0–33.6 weeks, 98 images, 49 pairs [37.4%]) and Group 3 (34.0–38.6 weeks, 86 images, 43 pairs [32.8%]). Concordance was good in Groups 1 and 3 and moderate in Group 2. In Groups 2 and 3 at least one fetus presented high-risk results in 26.5% and 11.6% of twin pairs, respectively. Only gestational age < 32 weeks, gestational diabetes mellitus, and spontaneous conception were associated with a high risk of NRM in Group 2. There was good concordance of the risk of NRM between twins < 30.0 weeks and > 34.0 weeks. From 30.0 to 33.6 weeks 26.5% of the twin pairs had discordant results, with moderate concordance of the risk of NRM.

ObjectiveTo assess fetal liver volume (FLV) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in cytomegalovirus (CMV)-infected fetuses compared to a group of healthy fetuses.MethodMost infected cases were diagnosed by the evidence of ultrasound abnormalities during routine scans and in some after maternal CMV screening. CMV-infected fetuses were considered severely or mildly affected according to prenatal brain lesions identified by ultrasound (US)/MRI. We assessed FLV, the FLV to abdominal circumference (AC) ratio (FLV/AC-ratio), and the FLV to fetal body volume (FBV) ratio (FLV/FBV-ratio). As controls, we included 33 healthy fetuses. Hepatomegaly was evaluated post-mortem in 11 cases of congenital CMV infection. Parametric trend and intraclass correlation analyses were performed.ResultsThere were no significant differences in FLV between infected (n = 32) and healthy fetuses. On correcting the FLV for AC and FBV, we observed a significantly higher FLV in CMV-infected fetuses. There were no significant differences in the FLV, or the FLV/AC or FLV/FBV-ratios according to the severity of brain abnormalities. There was excellent concordance between the fetal liver weight estimated by MRI and liver weight obtained post-mortem. Hepatomegaly was not detected in any CMV-infected fetus.ConclusionIn CMV-infected fetuses, FLV corrected for AC and FBV was higher compared to healthy controls, indicating relative hepatomegaly. These parameters could potentially be used as surrogate markers of liver enlargement.

What are the novel findings of this work?This is the first study demonstrating delayed cortical maturation on prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in unaffected or mildly affected fetuses with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. CMV-infected fetuses had significantly reduced calcarine and parieto-occipital sulci depth and larger Sylvian fissure angles compared with healthy controls. Mildly affected CMV-infected fetuses also demonstrated lower cortical development grading in the parietal and temporal areas compared with controls. What are the clinical implications of this work?Fetal CMV infection, even if it is considered of good prognosis, seems to be associated with an altered pattern of fetal brain cortical maturation compared with healthy non-infected fetuses. Our results reinforce the use of MRI as a complementary tool for assessing brain structure at 32 weeks' gestation in CMV-infected fetuses even if they do not exhibit ultrasound abnormalities.

The objective of this study was to evaluate a novel automated test based on ultrasound cervical texture analysis to predict spontaneous Preterm Birth (sPTB) alone and in combination with Cervical Length (CL). General population singleton pregnancies between 18 + 0 and 24 + 6 weeks’ gestation were assessed prospectively at two centers. Cervical ultrasound images were evaluated and the occurrence of sPTB before weeks 37 + 0 and 34 + 0 were recorded. CL was measured on-site. The automated texture analysis test was applied offline to all images. Their performance to predict the occurrence of sPTB before 37 + 0 and 34 + 0 weeks was evaluated separately and in combination on 633 recruited patients. AUC for sPTB prediction before weeks 37 and 34 respectively were as follows: 55.5% and 65.3% for CL, 63.4% and 66.3% for texture analysis, 67.5% and 76.7% when combined. The new test improved detection rates of CL at similar low FPR. Combining the two increased detection rate compared to CL alone from 13.0 to 30.4% for sPTB < 37 and from 14.3 to 42.9% sPTB < 34. Texture analysis of cervical ultrasound improved sPTB detection rate compared to cervical length for similar FPR, and the two combined together increased significantly prediction performance. This results should be confirmed in larger cohorts.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of quantitative ultrasound of fetal lung texture analysis in predicting neonatal respiratory morbidity (NRM) in twin pregnancies. This was an ambispective study involving consecutive cases. Eligible cases included twin pregnancies between 27.0 and 38.6 weeks of gestation, for which an ultrasound image of the fetal thorax was obtained within 48 h of delivery. Images were analyzed using quantusFLM® version 3.0. The primary outcome of this study was neonatal respiratory morbidity, defined as the occurrence of either transient tachypnea of the newborn or respiratory distress syndrome. The performance of quantusFLM® in predicting NRM was analyzed by matching quantitative ultrasound analysis and clinical outcomes. This study included 166 images. Neonatal respiratory morbidity occurred in 12.7% of cases, and it was predicted by quantusFLM® analysis with an overall sensitivity of 42.9%, specificity of 95.9%, positive predictive value of 60%, and negative predictive value of 92.1%. The accuracy was 89.2%, with a positive likelihood ratio of 10.4, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.6. The results of this study demonstrate the good prediction capability of NRM in twin pregnancies using a non-invasive lung texture analysis software. The test showed an overall good performance with high specificity, negative predictive value, and accuracy.