مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Measuring ovarian volume during cesarean delivery provides valuable information about future ovarian function and reproductive capacity

Abstract :

Objective: Ovarian volume has a potential to be used in the indirect estimation of human ovarian reserve. The aim of this study was to determine ovarian volume measured during cesarean delivery at term pregnancy and to correlate the ovarian volume with maternal age and obstetric parameters. Method: Ovarian exploration was performed in women undergoing cesarean delivery. Each ovary was measured in three dimensions (height, width, and depth), and right and left ovarian volumes were determined using a simplified formula for a prolate ellipse. Results: Totally, 132 patients were found to be eligible for the study. Two-way ANOVA test (factors: Age groups and ovarian side) revealed significantly higher right ovarian volumes overall (p 0.05). However, we did not observe any significant interaction between side of the ovaries and the age groups (p 0.05). We also observed significant strong correlation between right and left ovarian volumes (r=0.69; p 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the right or left ovarian volumes and obstetric parameters (p 0.05). When we evaluated the left or right side sepa-rately, we found no significant difference in volumes among age groups (p 0.05). Conclusions: Cesarean delivery as an operation performed during reproductive period can be an opportunity to evaluate and to record the right and left ovarian volumes directly and correctly. Our findings support that during the time of delivery, the right ovarian volume is higher than left one. The information about the ovarian volumes may provide important information to solve future reproductive problems. In women with small sized ovaries, information about her ovarian reserve can be given before her discharge.