Umbilical Artery Doppler Study in Perinatal Outcome of Fetuses with FGR: A Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction: The incidence of intrauterine growth restriction is approximately 10%. The management depends upon diagnosis, follow up and timely delivery of the fetus. Material & Methods: Prospective cohort study was conducted at a zonal hospital from Oct 2014 to Aug 2016 on 60 women with clinical suspicion of FGR. After confirming FGR with ultrasound, these patients were followed with umbilical artery velocimetry. The neonatal outcomes gestational age at delivery, birth weight, APGAR score, NICU admissions were noted. Results: Low end diastolic velocity was present in 23 patients and 05 fetuses had absent end diastolic velocimetry. The mean age of delivery was 37.3 Weeks in normal velocimetry, 36 Weeks in high S/D ratio and 33.5 Wks (31-37.3 Wks) in absent diastolic flow group. Mean birth weight was 1.67 kg in the low end diastolic velocity, 1.002 kg in the absent diastolic velocity group and 2.03 kg in the normal umbilical artery velocimetry group. APGAR of < 7 was seen in 6 (26%) of low end diastolic velocity, 3 (60%) of absent doppler velocimetry as compared to 3 (9.2%) in the normal doppler velocimetry group. Conclusion: The data indicates that the umbilical artery doppler study could distinguish the group of small for date fetuses in risk for complications. Growth restricted fetuses with normal umbilical flow velocimetry are at lower risk than those with abnormal velocimetry in terms of poor APGAR scores and neonatal intensive care admissions