The Role of Uterine Artery Doppler Sonography in Predicting Pre-eclampsia at 14-20 Weeks of Gestation

Abstract

Background: the introduction of Doppler technology has proved the first opportunity for repetitive, noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring in human pregnancy compared to other methods of maternal and fetal monitoring. Aim of the Work: this study aimed to predict usefulness of uterine artery Doppler in predicting pre-eclampsia and to study uterine artery Doppler waveforms at 14-20 weeks of gestation. Patients and Methods: this prospective study was carried out in the Radiodiagnosis Department Ain Shams University. This study included 33 pregnant women (between 14 to 20 weeks of pregnancy); they were chosen randomly from patients referred from maternal clinics, all were primigravida, single pregnancy during the period from June 2017 to December 2017. Results: regarding our results when RI index was used, sensitivity, specificity were 90.0%, 87.0% and when PI index was used sensitivity, specificity were 60.0%, 87.0%. Conclusion: we can conclude that uterine artery Doppler between 14- 20 weeks of gestation is a simple rapid non-invasive procedure and it can be used as a reliable indicator for prediction of preeclampsia to use it as a screening test. Recommendations: we recommend other studies with a wide scale of population (large number) in more than one center; this will lead to increased surveillance and delivery in a well-equipped setup in high risk detected patient which is necessary to reduce the maternal and fetal complications