Rama Krishna Narra, Prema Latha Karumanchi, Bhimeswara Rao, Anusha Putcha
BACKGROUND Pre-eclampsia is the main cause of intrauterine growth retardation which results in considerable mortality and morbidity in pregnant women. Grey scale ultrasound measures the growth restriction by morphometric analysis of foetal parameters. Colour doppler ultrasound by measuring the placental and foetal blood flow provides an important information by various indices. The present study is undertaken to determine the common aetiology factors for growth retardation and reliability of various doppler indices in patients with IUGR that predict the foetal outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 50 patients referred to department of radio-diagnosis by referring obstetricians with clinical suspicion of IUGR. Various doppler indices of uterine artery, umbilical artery, foetal middle cerebral arteries and abdominal aorta were measured, and their significance was determined. RESULTS Pre-eclampsia was the most common cause of growth retardation and umbilical arterial wave forms and its indices are the most important for determining growth retardation. CONCLUSION Doppler imaging is of great use in monitoring the pregnancy and is complementary to all other surveillance modalities.
