The prognostic role of uterine artery Doppler investigation in patients with severe early-onset preeclampsia.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prediction capacity of uterine artery Doppler investigation for maternal and neonatal complications in women who are admitted with severe early-onset preeclampsia. A uterine artery Doppler examination was performed at admission for patients with severe early-onset (<34 weeks of gestation) preeclampsia. The maternal and neonatal outcome of women with abnormal uterine Doppler results was compared with those with normal Doppler results. One hundred twenty patients were included. In 53% of them, uterine Doppler results were abnormal. This group had a lower gestational age at delivery (30.2 vs 32.7 weeks; P < .001) and a higher proportion of small-for-gestational age infants (87.5% vs 67.9%; P = .009). Neonatal (40.6% vs 14.3%; P = .01) and maternal (28.1% vs 5.4%; P = .001) complications were more common in the abnormal uterine Doppler group. Women with severe early-onset preeclampsia are at higher risk of maternal and neonatal complications if abnormal uterine blood flow is present.