Accuracy of Transvaginal Sonography in Detecting the Retained Products of Conception after First-Trimester Spontaneous Abortion

First-trimester spontaneous abortion is one of the most common causes for referring to clinics of obstetrics. Despite the beneficials of transvaginal sonography, the standard diagnostic method is still the utrine curettage; an invasive procedure which must be performed by an expert master. The aim of this study was to assess the use of transvaginal sonography to detect retained product of conception after the first-trimester spontaneous abortion. All women who arrived at our hospital with abnormal vaginal bleeding due to first-trimester spontaneous abortion were included in this study and underwent a preliminarily transvaginal sonography and then curettage. The final diagnosis of complete or incomplete abortion was made based on the histopathologic findings at dilatation and curettage. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of transvaginal sonography for detecting the products of conception were measured. A total of 100 women were studied. The averages of gestational age and women’s age were 9.6±1.4 weeks and 25.8±4.9 years old, respectively. The false positive value for sonographic diagnosis was 29.5%. Also, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 96%, 27.7%, 74% and 83%, respectively. Transvaginal sonography is a useful supplemental tool in clinical assessment of women who experience a first-trimester spontaneous abortion. For its relatively high scores of negative predictive value, applying this diagnostic method would reduce the numbers of unnecessary general anesthesias and utrine curettages.