UTERINE BLOOD-FLOW VELOCIMETRY AND PLACENTAL CHANGES IN HYPERTENSIVE AND NORMOTENSIVE PREGNANCIES WITH GROWTH-RETARDED FETUSES - A PILOT-STUDY .1.

Objective: The aims of this study were to evaluate the correlation bet ween abnormal uterine Doppler velocimetry and placental ischemic-hemor rhagic lesions and decidual arterial changes in pregnancies with fetal growth retardation, and to verify if these changes were different in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and in normotensive patients. Methods: The placental and decidual arterial morphology was examined in 36 growth-retarded fetuses (11 PIH patients, 25 normotens ive patients without other maternal disease) and monitored with Dopple r examinations of the uterine arteries from 24 weeks' gestation. These findings were compared with 15 control cases. Results: Thirty-one gro wth-retarded fetuses showed abnormal uterine velocimetry. The prevalen ce of placental infarctions, extensive minimal ischemic damage, abrupt io placentae, defective response to placentation, decreased number of vessels, and acute atherosis of decidual arteries was significantly hi gher in pregnancies with growth-retarded fetuses with abnormal uterine velocimetry than in pregnancies with growth-retarded or normal fetuse s with normal uterine velocimetry. This correlation between abnormal u terine velocimetry and decidual-placental changes proved to be the sam e in pregnancies with PIH and in normotensive pregnancies. Conclusions : Growth-retarded fetuses of normotensive pregnancies with abnormal Do ppler velocimetry of the uterine arteries share the same decidual vasc ular and placental changes with patients affected by pregnancy-induced hypertension and fetal growth retardation.