Combined 3D Power Doppler Placental Volume and Vascular Flow Indices In the First Trimester of Pregnancy Could be a Specific Screening Toll in the Early Prediction Of Preeclampsia?.

Ultrasonography assessment: Woman underwent an abdominal ultrasonographic examination including color-Doppler techniques at the period of 11-14 weeks of gestations to assess the following data:

• Gestational age was determined from the onset of the last normal menstrual period; measurements of fetal crown-rump length (CRL) were done to confirm the fetal gestational age.
• The fetal viability and careful search for any fetal abnormalities present.
• The measurement of the pulsatility index (PI), the resistance index (RI) in the uterine arteries both on the left and right side, detection for the presence of notch and determine whether it is unilateral or bilateral.
• The time of examination was approximately 20 minutes.
• The ultrasound equipment used for both abdominal sonography and color Doppler technique was GE ultrasound machine (model?? ) equipped with pulsed and color Doppler options was used with the probe frequency of 7 MHz.

Trans-abdominal ultrasound examination was performed with the woman placed in a recumbent or semi recumbent position & carried out for measurement of fetal CRL and diagnosis of any major fetal defects and measurement of UtA-PI & UtA-RI. A sagittal section of the uterus was obtained For the Doppler studies, and the cervical canal and internal cervical os were identified. The transducer was gently tilted from side to side and color flow mapping was used to identify each UtA along the side of the cervix and uterus at the level of the internal os.

the sampling gate set at 2mm to cover the whole vessel and care was taken to ensure that the angle of insonation was less than 60◦. When three similar consecutive waveforms had been obtained the UtA-PI and UtA-RI were measured, and the mean UtA-PI and UtA-RI of the left and right arteries were calculated.

Uterine artery Doppler was obtained with the patient in a semirecumbent position following a previously described technique [14]. A sagittal view of the uterus and of the cervical canal was obtained and color flow mapping was used to identify the uterine arteries coursing along the side of the cervix and uterus. The pulsed Doppler sample volume was placed on the ascending branch of the uterine artery closest to the internal os. The pulsatility index (PI = S _ D/M) was measured on three consecutive waveforms and the mean value between the left and right arteries was calculated. The presence of an early diastolic notch in the waveforms was recorded. An abnormal value was considered a mean PI greater than 2.36 corresponding to the 95th centile of a cross-sectional study on 3045 pregnancies