Cerebroplacental ratio assessment after age of fetal maturity in normotensive and hypertensive pregnancies and prediction of perinatal outcome

Abstract

Background: At or after 37 weeks of pregnancy, the decreased cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) denotes high risk of fetal complication. When low-risk foetuses with lower CPR have intrapartum distress within 72 hours after the start of labour, the prevalence of obstetric intervention is greater. This work aimed to assess CPR as evaluated during term pregnancy and before onset of the labor in normotensive and hypertensive pregnancies and its relationship with perinatal outcomes with reference to intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), fetal distress, APGAR score, birth weight and admission at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Methods: This prospective observational study was performed on 40 pregnant cases, their age ranging in years from 20 to 35, singleton living pregnancy, gestational age (37-40) weeks and before onset of labor and cephalic-presenting fetus. Participants were divided into two equal groups: normotensive cases and hypertensive cases. Results: Significant difference between two studied group regarding abdominal circumference (AC), Amniotic fluid index (AFI), estimated fetal weight (EFW), Umbilical Artery pulsatility index (UAPI), middle cerebral arterial pulsatility index (MCAPI), CPR, APGAR scores at one and five minutes were substantially reduced while rates of cesarean sections and NICU admissions were significantly higher in hypertensive compared with normotensive women. The cutoff value was 1.1 for CPR yielded a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 70%, a PPV of 75% and a NPV of 88% with 83% accuracy and with AUC of 0.955. Conclusions: CPR has high predictive value of perinatal outcome as Apgar score and rate of NICU admission in hypertensive pregnant women.