Early pregnancy and pelvic ultrasound

Abstract

Point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) has an important role in the management of vaginal bleeding and/or abdominal pain in early pregnancy. When combined with other clinical parameters, PoCUS enables the treating physician to accurately confirm the presence of an early intrauterine pregnancy (IUP). This chapter provides a suggested algorithm for the use of bedside ultrasound and clinical findings to safely assess patients with first-trimester pregnancy pain or bleeding and rule out an ectopic pregnancy. Both trans-abdominal and trans-vaginal approaches are described in detail.