Comparison of two dimensional and live three dimensional ultrasounds for the diagnosis of septated uterus

Traditionally, septate uterus was diagnosed with invasive method like hysterosalpingography and hysteroscopy. Nowadays transvaginal ultrasonography was reported to be a sensitive tool for detection of septate uterus too.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the application of two dimensional ultrasound (2-DUS) and real time three dimensional ultrasound (3-DUS) in differentiating various type of septated uterus. Hysteroscopy confirmation was assigned as the gold standard.

This retrospective study was performed among 215 infertile women with suspected septate uterus from October 2008 to July 2012. An inclusion criterion was septated uterus based on HSG or experiencing abortion, preterm labor, or recurrent IVF failure. Fusion anomalies were excluded from the study (unicornuate, bicornuate and didelphys anomalies). The results of 3D and 2D sonographies were compared, while they were confirmed by hysteroscopy result in detection of septated uterus. Kappa index for agreement between 2DUS and hysteroscopy, as well as 3-DUS and hysteroscopy in detection of septate uterus was carried out. By receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, cut off points for predicting the kind of anomalies were proposed.

The women were evaluated by 2-DUS (n=89) and (II) 3-DUS (n=126). All women underwent hysteroscopy, following 2-DUS and 3-DUS at the same or subsequent cycle. The results of kappa (K) index were 0.575 and 0.291 for 3-DUS and hysteroscopy, as well as 2-DUS and hysteroscopy, respectively. Also, the cutoff points were 27% for arcuate and subseptate, and 35% for differentiating septate and subseptate.

Real time 3-DUS has better ability for visualization both uterine cavity and the fundal uterine, so it has higher agreement in detection of septate uterus than 2-DUS.