Objective: To evaluate perinatal outcomes of pregnancies with normal nuchal translucency (NT) and abnormal Ductus Venosus (DV) Doppler findings in first trimester combined screening for chromosomal abnormalities.
Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 1324 pregnant women who were admitted to the hospital and who underwent combined screening tests in the first trimester. These patients also underwent DV Doppler concurrent with the combined screening test. Chi-square and student t-test were used in the comparison of perinatal outcomes and p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: DV Doppler revealed pathologic findings in 14 pregnant women despite normal NT after the elimination of lost to follow up and fetal anomaly. Perinatal outcomes of the case patients were compared to a randomly selected control group comprising 88 pregnant women. From the maternal perspective, women with abnormal findings from DV Doppler more often experienced placental abruption, their pregnancies were terminated at earlier gestational ages, and they had higher rate of normal delivery. From the fetal perspective, babies born to these mothers had lower birth weight and received low APGAR scores.
Conclusion: A pathologic result in DV Doppler, which is not normally included in the screening program in the first trimester, predicts poor maternal and fetal perinatal outcomes.
