Cervical softening occurs early in pregnancy: characterization of cervical stiffness in 100 healthy women using the aspiration technique

Abstract

The aspiration method allows an objective description of the consistency of the ectocervix during pregnancy, indicating that the tissue softens already at the beginning of gestation, transforms continuously to lower consistency in the first two trimesters, stabilizes at a low level in the third trimester, and recovers its stiffness after delivery.