DOPPLER FLOW VELOCITY WAVE-FORM ANALYSIS PREDICTING PRETERM BIRTH

95 patients were investigated using Doppler ultrasound to evaluate its usefullness during the clinical management of patients with preterm labor, preterm rupture of membranes and incompetent cervix. Cases with additional pregnancy complications as pre-eclampsia or intrauterine growth retardation or infection of the amnion or the birth canal were excluded from our study. We examined the umbilical artery and the uterine arteries. Predicting preterm birth we found a sensitivity of 31.4% and a specificity of 70% for the former and a sensitivity of 34.3% and a specificity of 83.3% for the latter. As a result of our investigation we have to conclude that Doppler ultrasound is not able to predict sufficiently reliable preterm birth to use it in clinical management. Normal uterine blood flow in cases with preterm labor seems to indicate birth at term in a high degree.