Doppler ultrasound examination of the renal artery in healthy women, normotensive pregnant women and in pre-eclampsia.

A combination of real-time linear array ultrasound scanning and pulsed Doppler ultrasonography was used to record blood flow signals from the right renal artery in 17 healthy women, in 15 normotensive pregnant women and in I7 women with pre-eclampsia. The maximum blood velocity waveforms were analyzed for pulsatility index and systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D ratio). As compared with the two healthy groups, in pre-eclamptic women the pulsatility index was slightly lower (p < 0.05), and the systolic/diastolic ratio non-significantly different. These variables were unrelated to mean arterial pressure or the degree of proteinuria. A theory of renal arteriovenous shunts in pre-eclampsia is proposed. Doppler ultrasound examination of the renal artery would seem to be of limited value-for the purpose of monitoring renal vascular pathology in pre-eclampsia. Copyright 1991 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology