Changes in ophthalmic artery Doppler indices in hypertensive disorders during pregnancy

To compare the ophthalmic artery Doppler indices observed in women with singleton pregnancies complicated by hypertension and to correlate the indices observed in hypertensive pregnant women with those observed in healthy pregnant women.

Ophthalmic artery Doppler indices were compared between 30 women with mild preeclampsia, 30 women with severe preeclampsia, and 30 women with chronic hypertension at 20 to 40 weeks' gestation. The control group consisted of 289 normotensive pregnant women. The resistive index, pulsatility index, and peak ratio were measured in the right eye. The mean and standard deviation were calculated for each group. Analysis of variance and the Tukey method were used to compare the means of the Doppler indices between groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the predictive power of the Doppler indices for identification of women with severe preeclampsia. P < .05 was considered statistically significant.

Significant differences were found between the resistive index, pulsatility index, and peak ratio in women with severe preeclampsia compared to the other groups. The means ± SDs for the resistive index, pulsatility index, and pulse ratio in women with severe preeclampsia were 0.63 ± 0.09, 1.13 ± 0.31, and 0.89 ± 0.12, respectively. The optimal cutoff values for the resistive index, pulsatility index and the peak ratio for identification of women with severe preeclampsia were determined by the receiver operating characteristic curves to be 0.657, 1.318, and 0.784.

Doppler imaging of the ophthalmic artery showed central overperfusion among pregnant women with severe preeclampsia. The peak ratio was the best index for discriminating between severe and mild preeclampsia or chronic hypertension.