Abstract
Author(s): JERZY FLORJAÅSKI, MARIUSZ ZIMMER, MAREK TOMIAÅOWICZ, MARTA ZASTAWNY,MICHAÅ POMORSKI
Aim of the study. The aim of this study was to estimate the prognostic value of uterine arteryDoppler examination in the second trimester of pregnancy in prediction of fetal intrauterinegrowth restriction and pregnancy induced hypertension.Material and methods. During the years 2007-2009 seven hundred twenty one ultrasound scansin the second trimester of pregnancy were performed. The uterine artery Doppler was perfor-med by using transabdominal ultrasound transducers. The presence of “notch”, pulsatility indexvalues >1,2 and resistance index values > 0,55 were regarded as abnormal.Sensitivity,specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated in order to determine theusefulness of uterine artery Doppler in prediction of hypertension and fetal intrauterine growthrestriction.Results. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of abnormal ute-rine artery Doppler flow in prediction of pregnancy induced hypertension were as follows: 57%,95%, 35%, 98% (for abnormal flow in one uterine artery) and 56%, 96%,40%, 98% (forabnormal flow in both uterine arteries). The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negativepredictive values of abnormal uterine artery Doppler flow in prediction of fetal intrauterinegrowth restriction were as follows: 56%,96%, 52%, 97% (for abnormal flow in one uterineartery) and 52%, 97%, 54%, 97% (for abnormal flow in both uterine arteries).Conclusions.The assessment of uterine artery Doppler flow in the second trimester of pre-gnancy is a useful method for prediction of fetal intrauterine growth restriction and pregnancyinduced hypertension. Pulsatility index, resistance index and the presence of “notch” have lowsensitivity and high specificity in predicting complications in the further course of pregnancy.The localization of placenta does not have a significant influence on the uterine artery Dop-pler flow parameters in the second trimester of pregnancy