Does the measurement of four fetal arteries provide more information than the measurement of just two arteries in prenatal Doppler sonography?

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the measureme nt of two or more fetal arteries provides more information and leads to a s election of fetuses at higher risk. Design In 244 pregnancies Doppler examinations In four fetal arteries (feta l aorta, common carotid artery, middle cerebral artery, umbilical artery) w ere performed. The evaluation of the results was made by means of a Doppler score for standardization and systematization. The results were divided in to four groups (normal, pre-pathological, pathological, highly pathological ) and the individual correlations with fetal outcome parameters were invest igated. The results from measuring only two fetal arteries (the fetal aorta and middle cerebral artery) were then compared with those from all four ar teries. Results Increasing pathology of the Doppler score correlated with fetal out come parameters. The results showed that if the Doppler result in the two-v essel measurement was normal (n = 180), pre-pathological (n = 29) or highly pathological (n = 12) then measuring four vessels generally brought no add itional information. However, the four-vessel measurement was of advantage in the pathological group (n = 23) because it selected the high-risk fetuse s (30.4%), as categorized by outcome. Conclusions Differentiating between several degrees of pathology is importa nt for the estimation of fetal risk. In cases of pathological Doppler findi ngs, the measurement of more than two vessels is important in order to sele ct fetuses at increased risk.