Endovaginal pulsed and color Doppler in first-trimester pregnancy

Endovaginal pulsed and color Doppler techniques were used to evaluate 23 unselected first-trimester pregnancies prior to elective abortion. Mean estimated gestational age was 8.9 +/- 1.6 weeks (range = 6.6-13.0). Low impedance, high velocity peritrophoblastic flow was seen in all cases. Mean peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities were 41.0 +/- 19.7 and 22.9 +/- 6.5 cm/s; mean resistance index (RI) was 0.41 +/- 0.10. Forty-five uterine arteries were evaluated with mean peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities of 44.1 +/- 14.7 and 7.6 +/- 4.3 cm/s; mean RI was 0.81 +/- 0.10. The peritrophoblastic and uterine artery velocities did not correlate with gestational age. Both ovaries were evaluated in 14 patients. One had no detectable flow in either ovary. For the active ovary in the other 13 patients, mean peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities were 27.4 +/- 9.9 and 15.2 +/- 5.9 cm/s; mean RI was 0.44 +/- 0.09. The corresponding values for the inactive ovary were 8.9 +/- 3.8 cm/s, 2.0 +/- 2.0 cm/s, and 0.76 +/- 0.22. These results can be used as a baseline for future studies of abnormal pregnancies.