Prediction of Uterine Artery Doppler for Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is one of the serious obstetric complications. The basic pathophysiological changes are systemic vasospasm and vascular endothelial injury. Decreased blood perfusion of organs and systems can cause maternal eclampsia and impairment of important organ functions. On the other hand, insufficient blood perfusion of uterus and placenta, iatrogenic premature birth, fetal distress, fetal growth restriction, etc. Increased risk is one of the main causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. At present, the prevention and treatment of preeclampsia has not yet achieved definite results. Once preeclampsia occurs, termination of pregnancy is the only effective treatment. Therefore, early identification of high-risk preeclampsia patients and active intervention measures can help reduce the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes of mothers and infants. At present, the main indicators for predicting preeclampsia include maternal characteristics, serological examination and Doppler ultrasound. The maternal characteristics mainly include high-risk factors of preeclampsia, such as maternal age, body mass index, mean arterial pressure and past history of preeclampsia. Serological indicators include triple indicators of second-trimester prenatal serum screening, as well as other specific serum markers such as soluble tyrosine kinase receptor 1, placental growth factor, pregnancy-related plasma protein A and placental protein 13. Doppler ultrasound indicators include fetal umbilical artery, middle cerebral artery, venous catheter and maternal uterine artery and other blood flow parameters. These three indicators can be used for early identification of preeclampsia alone or in combination. Doppler ultrasound, as a simple, safe and non-invasive detection method, has attracted more and more attention in clinic. The predictive effect of Doppler ultrasound on maternal uterine artery blood flow on preeclampsia has been verified in many studies. The purpose of this article is to review the application of uterine artery Doppler ultrasound in predicting preeclampsia in recent years, and to provide reference for follow-up clinical research.