[The carotid diastolic index: predictive factor for acute fetal distress]

The authors studied 165 patients, 161 of them having been examined at least once for their umbilical diastolic index, uterine diastolic index and carotid diastolic index (CDI) during pregnancy. Four patients have been examined only for the umbilical and carotid indexes. These patients presented either a pathological pregnancy (37% of arterial hypertension; 34% of intrauterine growth retardation; 8% other causes) or previous pathological gestations (21%). Particular emphasis was given to the study of the prediction of CDI with respect to fetal heart rate (FHR) abnormalities or an intrauterine fetal death (IUFD). A mean of 1.4 measurements of CDI per patient were performed, ranging from 1 to 5. The average time lag of the first CDI measurement was of 30 weeks of pregnancy, ranging from 21 to 36.5 weeks. The mean time lag of the children's deliveries was of 35 weeks, ranging from 27 to 40 weeks of pregnancy. The mean time lag of the last CDI measurement with respect to delivery was of 15 days (1 day to 15 weeks). The CDI (CDI = D/S; D = residual diastolic velocity; S = maximal systolic velocity) was considered as pathological when exceeding 22% up to 30 weeks of pregnancy and when exceeding 26% after 30 weeks. 50% of the children born in this series were hypotrophic. When presenting identical umbilical and uterine indexes, the percentage of hypotrophic offspring was the same, whether the carotid index was normal or pathological.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)