1 Uterine and Ovarian Arteries Resistance Indices at Midluteal Phase in Women with Recurrent Miscarriage in Comparison with Normal Fertile Women

Background and purpose: Abortion is considered recurrent when it spontaneously occurs at least three times. Recent studies suggest a correlation between uterine artery resistance and recurrent miscarriage (RM). There are few studies on the ovarian arteries. Therefore, this study evaluated the resistance of uterine and ovarian arteries in unexplained recurrent miscarriage and normal fertile women. Material and methods: The participants included women with history of unexplained recurrent miscarriage (study group, no. = 57). Also, 57 healthy fertile women were selected as a control group. Transvaginal power Doppler ultrasonography was performed for all patients in the midluteal phase of the non-pregnant subjects to detect uterine and ovarian arteries pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI). The indices were then compared between the two groups. Results: The women with recurrent pregnancy loss had a significantly higher uterine artery PI and RI compared with those of the control group (2.4 ± 0.31 vs. 1.9 ± 0.28 for PI and 0.84 ± 0.31 vs. 0.63 ± 0.29 for RI), but the two groups did not have any significant difference in ovarian artery PI and RI (0.81 ± 0.19 vs. 0.7 ± 0.18 for PI and 0.52 ± 0.11 vs. 0.4 ± 0.13 for RI). Conclusion: Uterine arterial resistance is associated with RM. This study also showed the efficacy of Pulsed Doppler ultrasonography in identifying women with unexplained RM who have impaired uterine circulation. Hence, screening should be carried out to detect individuals at risk, thereby decrease the rate of RM. However, additional studies are recommended to verify and further clarify these results