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Use of uterine Doppler in an Australian level II maternity hospital
Author(s) -
NAGTEGAAL Mariëtte J. C.,
VAN RIJSWIJK Suzanne,
MCGAVIN Steward,
DEKKER Gus
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.734
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1479-828X
pISSN - 0004-8666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-828x.2005.00469.x
Subject(s) - medicine , uterine artery , intrauterine growth restriction , obstetrics , eclampsia , doppler effect , obstetrics and gynaecology , pulsatility index , gynecology , pregnancy , gestational age , gestation , fetus , genetics , physics , astronomy , biology
Objective: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of uterine Doppler. Design: Retrospective study between March 2001 and March 2003. Setting: A high‐risk population of pregnant women in a busy level II Maternity unit. Methods: Resistance index (RI) measurements of the right and left uterine artery were obtained by using pulsed wave Colour Doppler. The presence of a unilateral or bilateral early diastolic notch was noted. An abnormal result was defined as a mean RI ≥ 0.58 with no, one or two notches or a mean RI < 0.58 in the presence of bilateral notches. Results: Pre‐eclampsia was found in 45 (24.7%) women, gestational hypertension (GH) in 22 (12.1%) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in 42 (23.1%) of women included (total 59.9%). In the overall group, 127 (69.8%) women were found to have abnormal uterine artery Doppler results and 55 (30.2%) of patients had a normal Doppler study. No significant differences were found between the group of women with abnormal uterine artery Doppler and the women with a normal velocity waveform in the prediction of pre‐eclampsia, IUGR and GH, this was also true in the various high‐risk‐subgroups. Conclusions: Uterine Doppler is not particularly useful to the obstetrician in the management of patients with an a priori very high risk to develop uteroplacental insufficiency.