Endometrial vascularity is lower in pregnancies with pregnancy-induced hypertension or small-for-gestational age in livebirth after IVF

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between endometrial / subendometrial vascularity and the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) or small-for-gestational age (SGA) in women who had a livebirth following in-vitro fertilization (IVF). METHOD: This was a retrospective study including 151 women who had livebirth after IVF from November 2002 to December 2004. Only women with a singleton pregnancy (n=104) were included for analysis. Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound measurement with power Doppler of the endometrial and subendometrial regions was performed on day of oocyte retrieval in stimulated IVF cycles or on luteinizing hormone surge + 1 day in frozen thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles to measure endometrial volume, vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), vascularization flow index (VFI) of endometrial and subendometrial regions. Pregnancy outcomes were reviewed. RESULTS: Eight women (7.7%, 8/104) had PIH or SGA. 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 (23.043 vs 22.704, p=0.028). There were no significant differences in subendometrial indices between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Women with PIH or SGA had significantly lower endometrial vascularity in terms of VI and VFI compared to women without PIH or SGA.