title: Long-term hospitalization and beta-mimetic therapy in the treatment of intrauterine growth retardation of unknown etiology.
abstract: A group of 98 third trimester pregnant women whose ultrasonographic studies raised the suspicion of intrauterine fetal growth retardation was studied. The patients were randomly assigned to two groups: Group A (Treatment group: 44 patients) and Group B (Control group: 54 patients). All patients were admitted to the hospital upon diagnosis for baseline evaluation. Those in Group A remained in the hospital until delivery (mean stay 15 +/- 5 days) and received treatment with 10 mg/t.i.d. of p.o. ritodrine. Group B patients were discharged after an average stay of 7 +/- 3 days. This group was not treated with ritodrine, and they were seen weekly in an outpatient setting. The prevalence of low-birth-weight infants for their gestational age was 47.73% in the treatment group and 40.74% in the control group. Of the deliveries in the treatment group, 40.9% were induced (half for fetal indications). In the control group 35.18% of the induced labors was (47.35% for fetal indications). Of the cases in the treatment group 18.18% were delivered by cesarean section, of which 62.5% were performed for fetal distress. The control group showed similar figures: 16.66% cesarean sections with 77.7% of them done for fetal distress. We observed an incidence of 20.45% of acute fetal distress in the study group against 12.96% in the control group. Such a difference is not statistically significant. The group under study demonstrated a rate of 6.82% pathological pH value in the umbilical artery, while the rate of abnormal values in the control group was 18.52%. In both groups, the greatest percentage of acidotic pH was observed in patients with IGR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cabero
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cerqueira
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: del Solar
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bellart
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Esteban-Altirriba
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay; D011247:Pregnancy; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011897:Random Allocation; D012312:Ritodrine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D012312:Ritodrine