[Assessment of fetal well-being in pregnancies complicated by maternal moderate to severe thrombocytopenia].

Purpose: To analyze the results of assessment of fetal well-being in pregnancies complicated by moderate or severe maternal thrombocytopenia.

Methods: Data from April 2001 to July 2011 of 96 women with a diagnosis of thrombocytopenia in pregnancy were retrospectively analyzed. We analyzed the following tests performed during the antepartum period for fetal assessment: cardiotocography, fetal biophysical profile, amniotic fluid index and umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry.

Results: A total of 96 pregnancies with the following diagnoses were analyzed: gestational thrombocytopenia (n=37, 38.5%) hypersplenism (n=32, 33.3%), immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP, n=14, 14.6%), secondary immune thrombocytopenia (n=6, 6.3%), bone marrow aplasia (n=3, 3.1%), and others (n=4, 4.1%). Cardiotocography showed normal results in 94% of cases, a fetal biophysical profile with an index of 8 or 10 in 96.9% and an amniotic fluid index >5.0 cm in 89.6%. Doppler umbilical artery velocimetry showed normal results in 96.9% of cases. In the analysis of the major groups of thrombocytopenia, the diagnosis of oligohydramnios was found to be significantly more frequent in the group with ITP (28.6%) compared to the other groups (gestational thrombocytopenia: 5.4% and hypersplenism: 9.4%, p=0.04).

Conclusions: This study indicates that in pregnancies complicated by moderate or severe maternal thrombocytopenia, even though the fetal well-being remains preserved in most cases, fetal surveillance is important in pregnant women with ITP, with emphasis on amniotic fluid volume evaluation due to its association with oligohydramnios.