Quantifying Uterine Elastography in Menstruating Women (QUEST)

June 1, 2026 updated by: Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey

Characterizing Uterine and Ovarian Tissue Stiffness Via Shear Wave Elastography in Non-Infertile, Fertile, and Infertile Women With Normal Anatomy Across the Menstrual Cycle: A Pilot Study

This study is aiming to characterize the elasticity of the female reproductive tract including the uterus, cervix and ovary using shear wave elastography at different times during the menstrual cycle and define the standard reference range of normal uterine and ovarian elasticity. By doing so, the potential of using shear wave elastography to diagnose and predict outcomes for patients seeking fertility treatment might be established.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Nulliparous women with no known infertility, gravid women with no known infertility and primary infertile women without uterine factor infertility

Description

Group A

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with normal menstrual cycles lasting 28-34 days
  • Patients with normal uterine anatomy
  • Patients with no prior pregnancy history including miscarriages, terminations, ectopic pregnancies, preterm deliveries, or full-term deliveries
  • Patient who have no known infertility (i.e. women who have not tried to conceive)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • BMI ≥ 35
  • Current use of intrauterine devices (IUDs), hormonal implants, or hormonal birth control medications. Participants on hormonal birth control interested in study participation may be included following one month of discontinuation of hormonal medication.
  • History of uterine surgery (i.e hysteroscopy, dilation and curettage, myomectomy)
  • History of ovarian surgery (i.e ovarian cystectomy, oophorectomy, removal of -endometrioma)
  • History of surgically-confirmed or clinically suspected endometriosis or ultrasound evidence of endometriosis (i.e endometrioma)
  • Currently present or surgically corrected uterine anomalies
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of communicating hydrosalpinx
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of leiomyomas
  • Ultrasound evidence of adenomyosis based on the Morphological Uterus Sonographic Assessment criteria (MUSA) (19)
  • Ultrasound evidence of ovarian pathology including mature teratoma/dermoid cyst, persistent functional cysts larger than 2 cm, or ovarian cancer.

Group B

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with normal menstrual cycles lasting 28 days to 34 days.
  • Patients with normal uterine and ovarian anatomy (absence of gross pathology on screening visit ultrasound)
  • Patients with at least one prior full-term vaginal delivery with time to conception less than one year without the use of assisted reproductive technology.

Exclusion Criteria

  • BMI ≥ 35
  • Current use of intrauterine devices (IUDs), hormonal implants, or hormonal birth control medications. Participants on hormonal birth control interested in study participation may be included following one month of discontinuation of hormonal medication.
  • History of cesarean section
  • Patient who have no known secondary infertility (i.e. women who have not tried to conceive)
  • Diagnosis of secondary infertility (i.e women who have attempted pregnancy for 12 months without success)
  • History of uterine surgery (i.e hysteroscopy, dilation and curettage, myomectomy)
  • History of ovarian surgery (i.e ovarian cystectomy, oophorectomy, removal of endometrioma)
  • History of surgically-confirmed or clinically suspected endometriosis or ultrasound evidence of endometriosis (i.e endometrioma)
  • Currently present or surgically corrected uterine anomalies
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of communicating hydrosalpinx
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of leiomyomas
  • Ultrasound evidence of adenomyosis based on the Morphological Uterus Sonographic Assessment criteria (MUSA) (19)
  • Ultrasound evidence of ovarian pathology including mature teratoma/dermoid cyst, persistent functional cysts larger than 2 cm, or ovarian cancer.

Group C

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with normal menstrual cycles lasting 28 days to 34 days.
  • Patients with normal uterine and ovarian anatomy (absence of gross pathology on screening visit ultrasound)
  • Patient with no prior pregnancy history including miscarriages, terminations, ectopic pregnancies, preterm deliveries, or full-term deliveries (i.e gravity equals zero).
  • Patient with diagnosis of primary infertility, with attempted conception for at least 12 months if younger than 35 years and attempted conception for at least 6 months if 35 years or older.

Exclusion Criteria

  • BMI ≥ 35
  • Current use of intrauterine devices (IUDs), hormonal implants, or hormonal birth control medications. Participants on hormonal birth control interested in study participation may be included following one month of discontinuation of hormonal medication.
  • History of three or more failed euploid embryo transfers
  • Severe male factor infertility including severe oligozoospermia and cryptozoospermia
  • History of uterine surgery (i.e hysteroscopy, dilation and curettage, myomectomy)
  • History of ovarian surgery (i.e ovarian cystectomy, oophorectomy, removal of endometrioma)
  • History of surgically-confirmed or clinically suspected endometriosis or ultrasound evidence of endometriosis (i.e endometrioma)
  • Currently present or surgically corrected uterine anomalies
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of communicating hydrosalpinx
  • Ultrasound evidence of or history of leiomyomas
  • Ultrasound evidence of adenomyosis based on the Morphological Uterus Sonographic Assessment criteria (MUSA) (19)
  • Ultrasound evidence of ovarian pathology including mature teratoma/dermoid cyst, persistent functional cysts larger than 2 cm, or ovarian cancer.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Nulliparous Women with No Known infertility
Female patients with normal menstrual cycles, normal ovarian and uterine anatomy and with no known prior pregnancy (including miscarriages, terminations, ectopic pregnancies, preterm and full term deliveries)
Device: Shear wave elastography measurements
Shear wave elastography measurements in kilopascals via ultrasound
Gravid Women with No Known infertility
Female patients with normal menstrual cycles, normal ovarian and uterine anatomy with at least one prior full term vaginal delivery with no known infertility
Device: Shear wave elastography measurements
Shear wave elastography measurements in kilopascals via ultrasound
Primary Infertile Women Without Uterine Factor Infertility
Female patients with normal menstrual cycles, normal ovarian and uterine anatomy and with no known prior pregnancy (including miscarriages, terminations, ectopic pregnancies, preterm and full term deliveries) that has been diagnosed with primary infertility
Device: Shear wave elastography measurements
Shear wave elastography measurements in kilopascals via ultrasound

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Shear wave elastography parameters
Time Frame: 3-4 months from enrollment
shear wave elastography measurements in kilopascals
3-4 months from enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 6, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 4, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

February 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 1, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2401-BRG-003-FB

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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