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Background/Aim. Adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia (PE), placental abruption (PA), fetal intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and stillbirth could be recognized by prenatal screening. The objective of this study was to predict IUGR by using first-trimester extremely low pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), extremely low free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (free βhCG) levels, and extremely high Pulsatility-index (PI) of uterine arteries, as single and combined predictors for IUGR development. Methods. This was a prospective first-trimester study analyzing singleton pregnancies at 11–13+6 weeks’ gestation who underwent routine first-trimester screening at the Department of High Risk Pregnancy of the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics „Narodni front“, University of Belgrade, Serbia. First-trimester screening for PAPP-A, free βhCG, and PI was performed in nulliparous, normotensive women with extremely low PAPP-A (PAPP-A ≤ 0.52 unit multiple of median – MoM) and/or extremely low free βhCG (free βhCG ≤ 0.56 MoM) and/or extremely high PI (PI ≥ 2.52). Results. Of 85 pregnant women included in the final analysis, 14 (16.5%) developed IUGR. PAPP-A ≤ 0.52 MoM and PI ≥ 2.52, as single categorical variables, found to be with high predictable values for IUGR development (odds ratio – OR = 3.064, 95% confidence interval – CI= 0.634-14.810, p = 0.046, and OR = 2.129, 95% CI = 0.449–10.713, p = 0.021, respectively). Furthermore, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curve identified PAPP-A and PI as continuous variables to be significant predictors of IUGR (area under curve – AUC = 0.671, 95% CI = 0.521−0.820, p = 0.045, and AUC = 0.744, 95% CI = 0.587−0.902, p = 0.004, respectively). Conclusion. The present study suggests that the first trimester extremely low PAPP-A and increased Doppler-PI levels are single predictors of IUGR. Described model could be used in a routine daily clinical practice in resource limited settings where other parameters are not available for the prediction of IUGR development.

Introduction. Aneuploidies are the major cause of perinatal death and early psychophysical disorders. Objective. In this study, we analyzed detection and false-positive rates of screening for aneuploidies in the first trimester by the combination of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness and maternal serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (β-hCG), and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) at 11-13+6 weeks of gestation, using the appropriate software developed by the Fetal Medicine Foundation. Methods. Our screening study for aneuploidies analyzed 4172 singleton pregnancies from January 2006 to December 2010. The sensitivities and false-positive rates using the combined aneuploidies determination for the risk cut-off of 1:275 were evaluated. Results. In the trisomy 21 pregnancies, the fetal NT was higher than 95th centile, in 72.8%, serum free b-hCG concentration it was above the 95th centile in 55% and serum PAPP-A was below the 5th centile in 47% of the cases. In the trisomy 18 and 13, the fetal NT was above 95th centile in 66.6% and 44.4% of the cases, respectively. The serum free b-hCG concentration was above the 95th centile in 0 and 10%, but serum PAPP-A was below 5th centile in 80.9% and 88.8% of pregnancies. In the trisomy 21 pregnancies the median free beta-hCG was 2.3 MoM and the median PAPP-A was 0.45 MoM. Chromosomal abnormalities were detected in 169 fetuses: trisomy 21 (97), Turner syndrome (19), trisomy 18 (28), trisomy 13 (11) and others (14). Detection rate of combined screening for aneuploides were 86.0% with false positive rate of 5.3% (mean age 33±4.9 years, >35 years in 35% of pregnancies). Conclusion. Our study suggests that the strategy of first-trimester combined screening of biochemical values and ultrasonographic parameters at 12 gestational weeks identifies higher percentage of aneuploidies with a lower false-positive rate than a single parameter strategy.

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Transvaginal Doppler ultrasonography has an important role in detecting and confirming the gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD). It can also be helpful in early detection of the malignant cases of GTD such as the invasion and protrusion of trophoblastic tissue into the uterine wall. Ultrasonographic picture of the malignant GTD is also specific for the presence of prominent zones of vasculavization in the peritrophoblastic tissue, as well as in the uterine tissue in which malignant GTD is developed. Resistance Index (RI) values were measured at the level of blood vessels of peritrophoblastic tissue and of suspected zones in the uterine tissue to detect neovascularization, which followed the malignant process. Theca luteal cysts were often detected by Transvaginal Doppler ultrasonography.