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Objectives: To summarize in a systematic review the current evidence regarding definitions, diagnosis, prevalence, etiology, clinical relevance and impact of surgical treatment for T-shaped uterus not related to diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure, and to highlight areas on which future research should focus., Methods: A search of PubMed, Scopus and EMBASE was performed on 9 April 2020 using the search terms 't-shaped OR t-shape OR infantile OR (lateral indentation) OR (diethylstilbestrol OR DES) AND (uterus OR uterine OR uteri) AND (anomaly OR anomalies OR malformation OR malformations)'. Additionally, the reference lists of the included studies were searched manually for other relevant publications. All studies presenting data on T-shaped uterus not associated with DES exposure and including at least 10 women were considered eligible. Studies regarding DES-related T-shaped uterus were excluded because DES has not been used since 1971. There were no restrictions on language, date of publication or status of publication., Results: Of 2504 records identified by the electronic search, 20 studies were included in the systematic review. The majority of studies were of poor quality. In 11 of 16 studies reporting on the diagnosis of T-shaped uterus, the diagnostic method used was three-dimensional ultrasound. There is no consensus on the definition of T-shaped uterus, but the most cited criteria (4/16 studies) were of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology and the European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESHRE/ESGE; 2013). The prevalence of T-shaped uterus varied from 0.2% to 10% in the four included studies reporting such data. With respect to etiology (except for DES), T-shaped uterus was considered a primary condition in three studies and secondary to adhesions in five and adenomyosis in one. T-shaped uterus was related to worse reproductive outcome based on subfertility (nine studies), miscarriage (seven studies), preterm delivery (two studies), ectopic pregnancy (one study) and repeat implantation failure (seven studies). Of the 12 studies that reported on the effects of surgical treatment of T-shaped uterus by hysteroscopic metroplasty, some mentioned an improvement in pregnancy rate (rates ranging from 49.6% to 88%; eight studies), live-birth rate (rates ranging from 35.1% to 76%; seven studies) and term-delivery rate (four studies) and a reduction in miscarriage (rates ranging from 7% to 49.6%; five studies) and ectopic pregnancy (one study). However, the evidence is of very low quality with serious/critical risk of bias toward overestimating the intervention effect. Some authors reported no complications related to the procedure, while others mentioned persistence of the dysmorphism (rates ranging from 1.4% to 11%; three studies), bleeding (1.3%; one study), infection (2.6%; one study) and adhesions (11.1% and 16.8%; two studies)., Conclusions: The prevalence, etiology and clinical relevance, with respect to reproductive outcome, of T-shaped uterus remain unclear and there is no consensus on the definition and diagnostic method for this condition. Expectant management should be considered the most appropriate choice for everyday practice until randomized controlled trials show a benefit of intervention. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology., (© 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.)

Objectives: To identify uterine measurements that are reliable and accurate to distinguish between T-shaped and normal/arcuate uterus, and define T-shaped uterus, using Congenital Uterine Malformation by Experts (CUME) methodology, which uses as reference standard the decision made most often by several independent experts., Methods: This was a prospectively planned multirater reliability/agreement and diagnostic accuracy study, performed between November 2017 and December 2018, using a sample of 100 three-dimensional (3D) datasets of different uteri with lateral uterine cavity indentations, acquired from consecutive women between 2014 and 2016. Fifteen representative experts (five clinicians, five surgeons and five sonologists), blinded to each others' opinions, examined anonymized images of the coronal plane of each uterus and provided their independent opinion as to whether it was T-shaped or normal/arcuate; this formed the basis of the CUME reference standard, with the decision made most often (i.e. that chosen by eight or more of the 15 experts) for each uterus being considered the correct diagnosis for that uterus. Two other experienced observers, also blinded to the opinions of the other experts, then performed independently 15 sonographic measurements, using the original 3D datasets of each uterus. Agreement between the diagnoses made by the 15 experts was assessed using kappa and percent agreement. The interobserver reliability of measurements was assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). The diagnostic test accuracy was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating-characteristics curve (AUC) and the best cut-off value was assessed by calculating Youden's index, according to the CUME reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive likelihood ratios (LR- and LR+) and post-test probability were calculated., Results: According to the CUME reference standard, there were 20 T-shaped and 80 normal/arcuate uteri. Individual experts recognized between 5 and 35 (median, 19) T-shaped uteri on subjective judgment. The agreement among experts was 82% (kappa = 0.43). Three of the 15 sonographic measurements were identified as having good diagnostic test accuracy, according to the CUME reference standard: lateral indentation angle (AUC = 0.95), lateral internal indentation depth (AUC = 0.92) and T-angle (AUC = 0.87). Of these, T-angle had the best interobserver reproducibility (CCC = 0.87 vs 0.82 vs 0.62 for T-angle vs lateral indentation depth vs lateral indentation angle). The best cut-off values for these measurements were: lateral indentation angle ≤ 130° (sensitivity, 80%; specificity, 96%; LR+, 21.3; LR-, 0.21), lateral indentation depth ≥ 7 mm (sensitivity, 95%; specificity, 77.5%; LR+, 4.2; LR-, 0.06) and T-angle ≤ 40° (sensitivity, 80%; specificity, 87.5%; LR+, 6.4; LR-, 0.23). Most of the experts diagnosed the uterus as being T-shaped in 0% (0/56) of cases when none of these three criteria was met, in 10% (2/20) of cases when only one criterion was met, in 50% (5/10) of cases when two of the three criteria were met, and in 93% (13/14) of cases when all three criteria were met., Conclusions: The diagnosis of T-shaped uterus is not easy; the agreement among experts was only moderate and the judgement of individual experts was commonly insufficient for accurate diagnosis. The three sonographic measurements with cut-offs that we identified (lateral internal indentation depth ≥ 7 mm, lateral indentation angle ≤ 130° and T-angle ≤ 40°) had good diagnostic test accuracy and fair-to-moderate reliability and, when applied in combination, they provided high post-test probability for T-shaped uterus. In the absence of other anomalies, we suggest considering a uterus to be normal when none or only one criterion is met, borderline when two criteria are met, and T-shaped when all three criteria are met. These three CUME criteria for defining T-shaped uterus may aid in determination of its prevalence, clinical implications and best management and in the assessment of post-surgical morphologic outcome. The CUME definition of T-shaped uterus may help in the development of interventional randomized controlled trials and observational studies and in the diagnosis of uterine morphology in everyday practice, and could be adopted by guidelines on uterine anomalies to enrich their classification systems. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., (Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: To estimate the differences in frequency of diagnosis of septate uterus using three different definitions and determine whether these differences are significant in clinical practice, and to examine the association between diagnosis of septate uterus, using each of the three definitions, and infertility and/or previous miscarriage as well as the cost of allocation to surgery., Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from a prospective study of 261 consecutive women of reproductive age attending a private clinic focused on the diagnosis and treatment of congenital uterine malformations. Reanalysis of the datasets was performed according to three different means of defining septate uterus: following the recommendations of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), a 2016 update of those of the American Fertility Society from 1988 (ASRM-2016: internal fundal indentation depth ≥ 1.5 cm, angle of internal indentation < 90° and external indentation depth < 1 cm); following the recommendations of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology/European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESHRE/ESGE), published in 2013 and reaffirmed in 2016 (ESHRE/ESGE-2016: internal fundal/uterine indentation depth > 50% of uterine-wall thickness and external indentation depth < 50% of uterine-wall thickness, with uterine-wall thickness measured above interostial/intercornual line); and using a definition published last year which was based on the decision made most often by a group of experts (Congenital Uterine Malformation by Experts; CUME) (CUME-2018: internal fundal indentation depth ≥ 1 cm and external fundal indentation depth < 1 cm). We compared the rate of diagnosis of septate uterus using each of these three definitions and, for each, we estimated the association between the diagnosis and infertility and/or previous miscarriage, and anticipated the costs associated with their implementation using a guesstimation method., Results: Although 32.6% (85/261) of the subjects met the criteria for one of the three definitions of septate uterus, only 2.7% (7/261) of them were defined as having septate uterus according to all three definitions. We diagnosed significantly more cases of septate uterus using ESHRE/ESGE-2016 than using ASRM-2016 (31% vs 5%, relative risk (RR) = 6.7, P < 0.0001) or CUME-2018 (31% vs 12%, RR = 2.6, P < 0.0001) criteria. We also observed frequent cases that could not be classified definitively by ASRM-2016 (gray zone: neither normal/arcuate nor septate; 6.5%). There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the prevalence of septate uterus in women with vs those without infertility according to ASRM-2016 (5% vs 4%), ESHRE/ESGE-2016 (35% vs 28%) or CUME-2018 (11% vs 12%). Septate uterus was diagnosed significantly more frequently in women with vs those without previous miscarriage according to ASRM-2016 (11% vs 3%; P = 0.04) and CUME-2018 (22 vs 10%; P = 0.04), but not according to ESHRE/ESGE-2016 (42% vs 28%; P = 0.8) criteria. Our calculations showed that global costs to the healthcare system would be highly dependent on the criteria used in the clinical setting to define septate uterus, with the costs associated with the ESHRE/ESGE-2016 definition potentially being an extra US$ 100-200 billion over 5 years in comparison to ASRM-2016 and CUME-2018 definitions., Conclusions: The prevalence of septate uterus according to ESHRE/ESGE-2016, ASRM-2016 and CUME-2018 definitions differs considerably. An important limitation of the ASRM classification, which needs to be addressed, is the high proportion of unclassifiable cases originally named, by us, the 'gray zone'. The high rate of overdiagnosis of septate uterus according to ESHRE/ESGE-2016 may lead to unnecessary surgery and therefore unnecessary risk in these women and may impose a considerable financial burden on healthcare systems. Efforts to define clinically meaningful and universally applicable criteria for the diagnosis of septate uterus should be encouraged. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., (Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: To assess the level of agreement between experts in distinguishing between septate and normal/arcuate uterus using their subjective judgment when reviewing the coronal view of the uterus from three-dimensional ultrasound. Another aim was to determine the interobserver reliability and diagnostic test accuracy of three measurements suggested by recent guidelines, using as reference standard the decision made most often by experts (Congenital Uterine Malformation by Experts (CUME))., Methods: Images of the coronal plane of the uterus from 100 women with suspected fundal internal indentation were anonymized and provided to 15 experts (five clinicians, five surgeons and five sonologists). They were instructed to indicate whether they believed the uterus to be normal/arcuate (defined as normal uterine morphology or not clinically relevant degree of distortion caused by internal indentation) or septate (clinically relevant degree of distortion caused by internal indentation). Two other observers independently measured indentation depth, indentation angle and indentation-to-wall-thickness (I:WT) ratio. The agreement between experts was assessed using kappa, the interobserver reliability was assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), the diagnostic test accuracy was assessed using the area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC) and the best cut-off value was assessed using Youden's index, considering as the reference standard the choice made most often by the experts (CUME)., Results: There was good agreement between all experts (kappa, 0.62). There were 18 septate and 82 normal/arcuate uteri according to CUME; European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE)-European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE) criteria (I:WT ratio > 50%) defined 80 septate and 20 normal/arcuate uteri, while American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) criteria defined five septate (depth > 15 mm and angle < 90°), 82 normal/arcuate (depth < 10 mm and angle > 90°) and 13 uteri that could not be classified (referred to as the gray-zone). The agreement between ESHRE-ESGE and CUME was 38% (kappa, 0.1); the agreement between ASRM criteria and CUME for septate was 87% (kappa, 0.39), and considering both septate and gray-zone as septate, the agreement was 98% (kappa, 0.93). Among the three measurements, the interobserver reproducibility of indentation depth (CCC, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-0.99) was better than both indentation angle (CCC, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.97) and I:WT ratio (CCC, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.90-0.94). The diagnostic test accuracy of these three measurements using CUME as reference standard was very good, with AUC between 0.96 and 1.00. The best cut-off values for these measurements to define septate uterus were: indentation depth ≥ 10 mm, indentation angle < 140° and I:WT ratio > 110% ., Conclusions: The suggested ESHRE-ESGE cut-off value overestimates the prevalence of septate uterus while that of ASRM underestimates this prevalence, leaving in the gray-zone most of the uteri that experts considered as septate. We recommend considering indentation depth ≥ 10 mm as septate, since the measurement is simple and reliable and this criterion is in agreement with expert opinion. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., (Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of two- and three-dimensional ultrasonographic measurement of the thickness of the lower uterine segment (LUS) in pregnant women by transvaginal and transabdominal approaches., Methods: This was a study of 30 pregnant women who had had at least one previous Cesarean section and were between 36 and 39 weeks' gestation, with singleton pregnancies in cephalic presentation. Sonographic examinations were performed by two observers using both 4-7-MHz transabdominal and 5-8-MHz transvaginal volumetric probes. LUS measurements were performed using two- and three-dimensional ultrasound, evaluating the entire LUS thickness transabdominally and the LUS muscular thickness transvaginally. Each observer measured the LUS four times by each method. Reliability was analyzed by comparing the mean of the absolute differences, the intraclass correlation coefficients, the 95% limits of agreement and the proportion of differences < 1 mm., Results: Transvaginal ultrasound provided greater reliability in LUS measurements than did transabdominal ultrasound. The use of three-dimensional ultrasound improved significantly the reliability of the LUS muscular thickness measurement obtained transvaginally., Conclusions: Ultrasonographic measurement of the LUS muscular thickness transvaginally appears more reliable than does that of the entire LUS thickness transabdominally. The use of three-dimensional ultrasound should be considered to improve measurement reliability., ((c) 2009 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) can occur following an invasive intrauterine procedure as a result of the normal healing process of the damaged endometrium/myometrium[1]. Although several interventions have been proposed for preventing the occurrence of IUAs, such as use of hyaluronic acid gel or polyethylene oxide-sodium carboxymethylcellulose gel, estrogen therapy and use of an intrauterine balloon or intrauterine device, their effectiveness is still uncertain[2]. Anti-adhesion therapy following operative hysteroscopy for treatment of female subfertility. [Extracted from the article]