Early Placental Insufficiency Screening

To assess the role of uterine artery and maternal serum PlGf and sflt-1 and their combination in screening for pre-eclampsia and small -for-gestational age (SGA) fetuses at 12-14 weeks of gestation

Pre-eclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are known as major factors in perinatal morbidity and mortality. Routine antenatal care is focused on the detection of women at increased risk to apply this population a program of careful monitoring and appropriate intervention. Uterine artery Doppler during anomaly scan at 12 to 14 weeks in selected women at increased risk, has proved to be accurate to detect those who will develop PE or IUGR during the second half of pregnancy. A variety of angiogenic proteins have been studied as potential markers for pre-eclampsia. Among these protein Plgf and sflt-1 have respectively demonstrated higher and lower levels in pregnant women who will subsequently develop pre-eclampsia. Our study is aimed to evaluate the performance of serum Plgf and sflt-1 measurement in association with uterine artery Doppler as a screening for placental insufficiency.