[Pulsed Doppler sonography of the umbilical artery and fetoplacental resistance. A histometric study of gestosis placentas in comparison with a normal sample].

Histometric data from placentas after EPH gestosis, in cases with normal (n = 15) or pathological (n = 13) foetal umbilical artery flow velocity wave forms, are compared with data from uncomplicated pregnancies (n = 17). The cross-sectional areas of the villi were increased in both gestosis groups, whereas the diffusion capacity, the degree of vascularisation, the foetal placental blood volume and the length of epithelial plates and their quota of the circumference of the villi are decreased only in cases of gestosis with pathological flow velocity wave forms. In this group a high rate of caesarean sections for foetal distress was necessary and the foetal outcome was poor. We were able to prove the possibility of estimation of "placental risk" with pulsed Doppler ultrasound of an umbilical artery with morphometric data.