European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Pre-eclampsia is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by development of hypertension to the extent of 140/90 mm of Hg or more with proteinuria after the 20th week in a previously normotensive and non-proteinuric patient. Incidence of Pre-eclampsia varies from 8-10% in India, being 10% in the primigravidae and 5% in multigravidae. Objective: The present study, conducted in the department of Biochemistry of a tertiary care teaching hospital, proposes the value of serum copper levels as marker in etiopathogenesis and in assessment of the severity of pre-eclampsia. Methods: The serum copper levels were measured in sixty newly diagnosed pre-eclampsia patients admitted in the wards of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the tertiary care teaching hospital and sixty age and sex matched normal healthy relatives of patients attending the Out Patient Departments. Result: The outcome of the study indicated that the levels of serum copper were increased statistically significantly in the pre-eclampsia cases group when equated to the normal pregnant control group. Moreover when levels of serum copper were correlated with the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure in pre-eclampsia patients, significant positive correlation was detected. Conclusion: Hence the result obtained concludes that serum copper level may be considered as an influence having a role in the etiopathogenesis of the disease and may also be used as severity indicator in patients with pre-eclampsia.

Hypertension is one of the common problems associated with pregnancy that may be followed by eclampsia, acute renal failure, maternal death, premature delivery, intra-uterine growth restriction and other. This study was conducted to determine the results of pregnancies associated with hypertension in patients visiting in the Delivery Ward of Govt. Thanjavur medical college hospital (Tertiary care Centre) Thanjavur. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted on all the patients admitted to the aforementioned department and who possessed the inclusion criteria for hypertensive pregnancy. Results: Among the 7004 delivery cases examined, 1315 cases had hypertension (18.8%). Among these, 983 (74.7%) had gestational hypertension; 209 (15.9%) had preeclampsia- eclampsia; 38 (2.9%) had preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension; 83 (6.3%) cases had chronic hypertension; and 3 (0.2%) had associated comorbid conditions like Liver & Renal disorders. Ninety-six point three percent (96.3%) had a systolic blood pressure (BP) of 140 - 190 mmHg, and 3.7% had a systolic BP greater than 190 mmHg. Whereas 61.1% of diastolic blood pressure 90 - 110 mmHg and 38.9% of the mothers had diastolic BP greater than 110 mmHg. The HELLP (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes & Low Platelet count) syndrome was present in 3.4% of cases; 22.1% experienced premature delivery; 2.5% had IUFD (intra uterine fetal death); 28.1% had IUGR (intrauterine growth retardation); and 21% had LBW babies. Conclusions: Based on our results, hypertensive mothers who are younger and have lower weight babies at birth experience more perinatal complications. The unpleasant effects of hypertension in pregnancy warrant the need for training, routine prenatal care, the early detection and treatment of hypertension at younger ages of pregnancy, and follow-up after delivery.

Background: The triad of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), infections, and hemorrhages constitutes a significant proportion in the maternal mortality and morbidity. About 5 to 10 percent of pregnancies are complicated by the PIH. It is being observed that the sensitivity of this screening test is increased in detecting adverse perinatal outcome, if the doppler ultrasound is performed at gestational period of 23 to 26 weeks instead of 19 to 22 weeks. So, present study was conducted with an aim to evaluate the association of the deranged uterine artery velocity indices on doppler ultrasound with maternal and fetal outcomes among pregnant women with PIH.
Methods: The present prospective study was conducted among 132 singleton pregnant women (patient age: 19 to 33 years and gestational age: 25-39 weeks) with PIH in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in tertiary care teaching hospital of North India for 12 months (January 2021 to December 2021) after obtaining the ethical approval from the institutional ethical committee.The ultrasound examination was performed using a GENERAL ELECTRIC LOGIQ P5 ultrasound scanner machine.Chi square test was used to find association between uterine artery indices and fetal outcome and a p value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The mean age of pregnant women was 24.8±3.7 years.In our study 40.8% of subjects were nulliparous, 43.9% of subjects were having parity of 1, 12.2% of subjects were having parity of 2.In our study, the doppler ultrasound was conducted among pregnant women with PIH for various indices. The uterine artery doppler ultrasound showed that 35.7% of subjects were having normal uterine artery indices, whereas 36.7% and 27.6% of subjects were having bilateral abnormal uterine artery indices and unilateral abnormal uterine dopplerrespectively.The chi-square analysis showed statistically significant association between perinatal mortality and abnormal uterine artery indices (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Doppler study for fetal surveillance in pregnancy-induced hypertension is a very useful device and abnormal uterine artery velocimetry also seems to have worse pregnancy outcomes in the present study.

Background:Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy is a major cause of maternal and perinatal
morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The obstetrical use of Doppler sonography for
monitoring high-risk pregnancies is today an indispensable procedure. Hence; the present study
was conducted for assessing the effeteness of Doppler in Patients with Pregnancy Induced
Hypertension.Materials & methods: A total of 20 pregnant patients between 28 to 36 weeks of
pregnancy clinically diagnosed as PIH. Control group comprised of 20 patients with 28 to 36 weeks
with no clinically detectable hypertension. Inclusion criteria Comprised of patients with rise of
atleast 30 mm Hg and 15 mm of Hg in systolic and diastolic pressures respectively over the previous
known blood pressure, patients whose previous blood pressures were not known, the blood pressure
of atleast 140/90 mm of Hg were considered abnormal, singleton pregnancy, regular periods and
normotensive pregnant patients with gestational age between 28 to 36 weeks of gestation. Blood
pressure was recorded and ultrasound examination was done followed by Doppler. All the results
were recorded and analysed using SPSS software.Results: A total of 20 patients were included in
the study group and 20 subjects were enrolled in the control group. In the study group, normal S/D
ration was seen in 12 subjects while abnormal was seen in 8 subjects. Among the subjects with
abnormal S/D ratio, still birth and low birth weight were seen in 4 subjects and 3 subjects
respectively. Conclusion: Doppler velocimetry is useful in distinguishing the serious patients from
those where the approach can be a bit more conservative.