title: Uteroplacental circulation in patients with first-trimester threatened abortion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess uteroplacental circulation in patients with first-trimester threatened abortion with a living embryo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary care university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-nine patients with first-trimester threatened abortion and a living embryo and 129 women with singleton, low-risk, normally developing first-trimester pregnancies recruited as controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound measurement of the peak systolic velocity and pulsatility index of the uterine arteries and the spiral arteries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Uteroplacental blood flow and pregnancy outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant relation between gestational age and the peak systolic velocity and pulsatility index in the uterine arteries and between gestational age and the peak systolic velocity and pulsatility index in the spiral arteries in controls. There were no differences in any Doppler parameter assessed between the study group and the controls, even in those pregnancies that ended in spontaneous abortion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No apparent alteration occurs in the early uteroplacental circulation in patients with threatened abortion with a living embryo. The use of transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound is not helpful for predicting pregnancy outcome in these cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. jlalcazar@unav.es
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Alcázar
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Perez
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous; D000033:Abortion, Threatened / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002823:Chorion; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006406:Hematoma / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D021041:Placental Circulation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011673:Pulsatile Flow; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed