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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Ultrasound Assessment of Endothelial-Dependent Flow-Mediated Vasodilation of the Brachial Artery in Clinical Research
Published on: October 22, 2014
Brachial Artery Flow Mediated Dilation in the First Trimester to Predict the Occurrence of Hypertensive Disorders
Júlio A G Alves1, Andre H Miyague, Paulo C P de Sousa
1Department of Public Health, Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE), Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil (CE).
Objectives:
To determine whether brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) assessed by ultrasonography during the late first trimester is able to predict the occurrence of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.
Methods:
Maternal endothelial function was assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery in 487 pregnant women at 11-13(+6) weeks' gestation. Subjects were prospectively followed and grouped according to the outcomes related to hypertensive disorders. We determined the areas under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) for using low FMD results to predict the occurrence of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.
Results:
Among 487 women, 9 (1.8%) were diagnosed with early-onset preeclampsia, 22 (4.5%) were diagnosed with late-onset preeclampsia, 47 (9.7%) developed gestational hypertension, and the remaining 409 (84%) pregnancies were unaffected by hypertensive disorders. Area under ROC curve analyses demonstrated that FMD was not able to predict pregnancies that developed hypertensive disorders.
Conclusions:
We conclude that FMD should not be considered a potential first-trimester marker of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.
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