Lung and cardiac ultrasound for hemodynamic monitoring of patients with severe pre‐eclampsia

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate lung and cardiac ultrasound for the assessment of fluid tolerance and fluid responsiveness before and after delivery in pregnant women with severe pre‐eclampsia (PE). Methods This was a prospective observational study of singleton pregnant women with severe PE and healthy term controls. Lung ultrasound echo comet score (ECS), which denotes the amount of extravascular lung water, was obtained using the 28‐rib interspaces technique. The echocardiographic E/e′ ratio, measured by pulsed‐wave and tissue Doppler, was used as a marker of diastolic left ventricular function. Fluid responsiveness was assessed by measuring changes in stroke volume (SV) with passive leg raising (PLR). SV was calculated from the left ventricular flow velocity‐time integral measured by pulsed‐wave Doppler at baseline and after PLR. Change in SV ≥ 12% was considered to indicate fluid responsiveness. Measurements obtained 1 day before delivery and 1 and 4 days after delivery were compared in the two groups (PE vs controls). Results We included 21 women with severe PE and 12 healthy controls. ECS and E/e′ ratio were higher in women with PE than in controls, both before delivery ( P = 0.002 and P = 0.02) and 1 day postdelivery ( P = 0.02 and P = 0.03); however there was no difference at 4 days postdelivery ( P = 0.63 and P = 0.90). The change in SV with PLR before ( P = 0.26) and after ( P = 0.71) delivery did not differ between groups. An increase in SV ≥ 12% was observed in three (14%) women with PE and four (33%) controls before delivery and in four (19%) women with PE and two (17%) controls 1 day after delivery. Conclusions Severe PE is associated with an increase in extravascular lung water, which could in part be caused by disturbed diastolic left ventricular function. Excess lung water can be identified by lung ultrasound assessment in women with severe PE before the appearance of clinical signs. Only a small proportion of these women are fluid responsive. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.