Evaluation of placental maturity by the sonographic textures.
OBJECTIVE
Routine ultrasound screening to predict gestational age is important for risk assessment of pregnancy complications among pregnant women. We explored a quantitative method for sonographic analysis of placental texture, with the objective of reproducible measurement.


METHODS
We studied 151 pregnant women; the gestational ages of their fetuses ranged from 10 to 38 weeks. Three experienced sonographers delineated the placental contour to define the region of interest (ROI). From these sonograms, 72 texture features were derived from the spatial gray-level dependence matrices and gray-level difference matrices. We used these as input variables in a multiple linear regression analysis.


RESULTS
A significant positive correlation (P < 0.01) was found between the multiple linear regression results and the corresponding gestation ages by the three assessors (r (A) = 0.755, r (B) = 0.851, and r (C) = 0.832). We also found good agreement between multiple linear regression results for the three observers. Their κ statistic values were 0.685 between assessors A and B, 0.679 between A and C, and 0.804 between B and C.


CONCLUSIONS
Quantitative sonography using texture analysis of the placenta was useful in practice to determine gestational age.
Chen
Chih-Yen
CY
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 30013, Taiwan. chihyenorama@gmail.com
Su
Hung-Wen
HW
Pai
Shih-Han
SH
Hsieh
Chi-Wen
CW
Jong
Tai-Lang
TL
Hsu
Chun-Sen
CS
Chou
Szu-Yuan
SY
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D010920:Placenta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011247:Pregnancy; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal