Endometrial vascularity is lower in pregnancies with pregnancy-induced hypertension or small-for-gestational-age fetus in live birth after in-vitro fertilization.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the relationship between endometrial/subendometrial vascularity and the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) or small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses in women who had a live birth following in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

METHODS

This was a retrospective study of women who had a live birth after IVF from November 2002 to December 2004. Only women with a singleton pregnancy (n = 104) were included for analysis. Three-dimensional ultrasound measurement with power Doppler of the endometrial and subendometrial regions was performed on the day of oocyte retrieval in stimulated IVF cycles or on luteinizing hormone surge + 1 day in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles to measure the endometrial volume and the vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization flow index (VFI) of the endometrial and subendometrial regions. Pregnancy outcomes were also reviewed.

RESULTS

Eight women (7.7%) had PIH or an SGA fetus. Women in the PIH/SGA group had significantly lower endometrial VI (0.504 vs 1.051; P = 0.023) and VFI (0.121 vs 0.253; P = 0.023) than those in the non-PIH/SGA group. However endometrial FI was significantly higher in the PIH/SGA group (23.04 vs 22.71; P = 0.028). There were no significant differences in subendometrial indices between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

Women who had a live birth following IVF and whose pregnancy was complicated by PIH or an SGA fetus had significantly lower endometrial vascularity in terms of VI and VFI than did women without PIH or SGA.