Doppler uteroplacental waveforms in pregnancy-induced hypertension: a re-appraisal.

Uteroplacental waveforms in 32 untreated patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) were compared with those in 32 carefully matched women with normal pregnancies (alpha = 0.05; beta = 0.80 for 30% difference between groups). Although some of the PIH patients showed high-resistance waveforms, both high and low resistance patterns were obtained from all controls and all but 1 PIH patient, and there was no overall difference in pulsatility index between groups (p greater than 0.1). Further careful prospective evaluation is necessary to determine the diagnostic value of doppler uteroplacental velocimetry in clinical practice.