Affiliations: [a]
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital General of Granollers, Granollers, Barcelona, Spain
| [b] Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Maria Jose Canto Rivera, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital General of Granollers, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), Barcelona, Spain. E-mail: mjcanto@fhag.es.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to asses the correlation of middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (MCA-PI) and perinatal outcomes in prolonged pregnancies. STUDY DESIGN:This was a prospective study of all consecutive pregnant women beyond 41 weeks’ gestation attending for obstetric surveillance during a two years period. We evaluated the predictive value of MCA-PI lower than the 5th percentile (<p5) and the occurrence of: cesarean delivery for fetal distress, 5-min Apgar score <7, arterial cord pH < 7.15, presence of thick meconium at delivery, need for admission to the neonatal intensive care and/or neonatal death. RESULTS:Three hundred and one pregnancies met the inclusion criteria and were managed expectantly. Of them, 31 (10.3%) fetuses had an MCA-PI < p5, which showed a significant relationship with the presence of thick meconium at birth (p < 0.001), but was not related to any of the other perinatal outcomes. CONCLUSION:In prolonged pregnancies, the finding of MCA-PI < p5 is related to meconium emission at the time of delivery, but is not associated with an increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome.
