Influence of Maternal Anemia on Placental Volume with Study of Uterine Artery Doppler

Objectives: To study the influence of maternal hematocrit(Ht) and hemoglobin (Hb) levelon placental volumewithstudy ofuterine artery Doppler.
Subjects and Methods: In this prospective study 40  pregnant( singleton pregnancy) cases were selected from the outpatient clinic of Alzahra university Hospital.  They were divided into two groups  the study group (20 cases)were anemic( iron deficiency) and  the control group( 20cases) were healthy. For each case two scans for the placenta and fetal growth were performed, the first at recruitment  and the second 5 weeks later. Placenta volume  was measured at each visit using three dimensional ultrasound. The maternal Hb and ( Ht) were measured in each visit.
Results: It revealed  a non statistical significance  between maternal hemoglobin, hematocrit and  placental volume during the 1st visit and 2^nd visit in anemic group compared to the control group.As regards Doppler study of the uterine artery in the present study it was noted that the pulsatility index and resistance index showeda non significant increase in the anemic group compared to the control group.
Conclusion:Maternal iron deficiency anemia can affect placental growth and development. Placental volume increased with mild anemia during the first trimester but has no significant effect of fetal growth.The use of 3D ultrasound is more accurate and efficient safe technique of great value in evaluating placental growth and volume. Also, the study of uterine artery blood flow  during the mid second trimester  showed a nonsignificant increase   of RI and PI with maternal anemia. Further study are needed for the effect of anemia on fetal growth during preconceptional, first,second,third trimester and the outcome of pregnancy.