PERINATAL OUTCOME OF GROWTH-RETARDED FETUSES WITH ABNORMAL UTERINE DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY AND PLACENTAL ISCHEMIC HEMORRHAGIC DAMAGE AND DECIDUAL ARTERIAL LESIONS - A PILOT-STUDY .2.

Objective: The aim of this work was to verify whether or not and to wh at extent the correlations, shown in the first part of this pilot stud y, between decidual-placental lesions in normotensive and hypertensive patients and abnormal uterine Doppler velocimetry, were mirrored by t he other traditional perinatal outcome. Methods: Umbilical velocimetry , amniotic fluid, elective cesarean section for fetal distress, the we ek and mode of delivery, the newborn weight, and perinatal deaths were compared in 11 pregnancies with growth-retarded fetuses, abnormal ute rine Doppler velocimetry, and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and in 20 pregnancies with growth-retarded fetuses, abnormal uterine velo cimetry, without PIH. The frequency of placental ischemic hemorrhagic lesions and decidual arterial lesions was the same in the pregnancies with PIH and in the pregnancies with only abnormal uterine velocimetry . Five growth-retarded fetuses had a normal uterine velocimetry, and t he frequency of placental and decidual lesions of these pregnancies wa s not different than in the 15 uneventful pregnancies. Results: The se verity of fetal growth retardation was not significantly different in the two groups with abnormal uterine velocimetry. However, growth reta rdation occurred earlier in pregnancies with PIH than in patients with out PIH. The number of fetuses with oligohydramnios, intrauterine dist ress, and delivery by elective cesarean section was not significantly different in the two groups. Normal umbilical waveforms were found in both groups with the same prevalence, but there were no cases of omino us fetal distress in these fetuses. Conclusions: The decidual and plac ental damage which is identified by abnormal uterine velocimetry in pr egnancies with fetal growth retardation is significantly correlated wi th poor perinatal outcome in both pregnancies affected by PIH and in n ormotensive pregnancies.