The Role of “Uterine Artery Doppler” at 11 to 13+6 Weeks for Prediction of Preeclampsia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review is aimed to review the role of uterine artery Doppler in first trimester of pregnancy along with use of maternal characteristics as a predictor of early and late on set pre-eclampsia (PE). Selection Criteria: The search was limited by selecting; only original articles, prospective & retrospective study designs, role of uterine artery Doppler done at 11 to 14 weeks, done on singleton pregnancy and written in English language were included. Data Collection and Analysis: The data extracted for author name, year of publication, place of study, duration of study, study design, outcomes and study variables including maternal factors, uterine artery Doppler and serum markers. Then detailed analysis of uterine artery Doppler performance as predictor in the form of Area under curve, Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive predictive value, Negative Predictive Value and its relation to preeclampsia, Early PE and Late PE. Results: Following the search strategy of PRISMA, 148 full articles reviewed, and 21 articles were included from 2010 to 2021. Out of 21 articles, 19 articles had “prospective study design” whereas two had “retrospective. Out of 21 researches, 15 assessed early preeclampsia, 4 assessed late preeclampsia, 4 assessed both, however 7 articles studies only preeclampsia as an outcome. The extracted estimate show value of first trimester uterine Doppler as a predictor of early and late preeclampsia. Conclusions: The uterine artery Doppler with maternal characteristics is a valuable, noninvasive tool to be used at 11 to 14 weeks as predictor of preeclampsia in the low resource settings where serum markers cannot be available to general population.