Fetal and uteroplacental haemodynamics during short-term atenolol treatment of hypertension in pregnancy.

Fetal circulation was studied by means of combined real-time and pulsed Doppler ultrasound in 14 women with pregnancy-associated hypertension before and during the first and third days of treatment with the beta 1-selective blocker, atenolol; in seven of the women the maternal uterine arcuate blood velocity waveform was also studied. Blood flow characteristics were normal both in the fetus and in the maternal arcuate artery, compared with those in uncomplicated pregnancies of corresponding gestational ages. Volume blood flow remained unchanged in the fetal descending aorta, and in the umbilical vein during atenolol treatment, whereas the pulsatility index increased in the fetal descending aorta and in the arcuate artery. This suggests that the peripheral vascular resistance, both on the maternal and fetal side of the placenta, increased during short-term antihypertensive treatment with atenolol.