Diagnostic Accuracy of First Trimester Uterine Artery Doppler Ultrasonography in Predicting Pre-Eclampsia in High Risk Patients, Taking Development of Pre-Eclampsia as Gold Standard

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of first trimester uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography in predicting pre-eclampsia in high risk patients, taking development of pre-eclampsia as gold standard. Study type: Cross-sectional (validation) study. Place of study: Department of Radiology, Shalamar Hospital, Lahore. Duration of study: January 2025 to May 2025. Methodology: 116 high-risk women (past or family history of pre-eclampsia, diabetes mellitus, age greater than 30, or history of PCOS) with singleton pregnancies of gestational age ≤14 weeks were included. Women with persistent hypertension and those with several pregnancies were not included. The uterine artery was then located at the uterocervical junction, where it seemed to cross the external iliac artery, and a transabdominal uterine artery Doppler was performed using a GE ultrasound machine and a curvilinear probe (3.5 MHz). A waveform of high quality was achieved by employing an insonation angle of less than 60°. Results of the calculation of the resistive index were recorded. Pre-eclampsia was observed in all women until delivery. Results: Pre-eclampsia was identified by uterine artery Doppler ultrasonography in the first trimester with a diagnostic accuracy 88.79%, a sensitivity 92.54%, a specificity 83.67%, a PPV 88.57%, and an NPV 89.13%. Conclusion: Our research highlights the potential of uterine artery Doppler screening in the first trimester, specifically RI values, as very useful predictors of preeclampsia.