Clinical value of screening for fetal growth retardation by Doppler ultrasound.

A representative sample of 405 pregnant women from one university hospital population was examined by Doppler ultrasound of the umbilical arteries to evaluate the validity of this method as a screening procedure for fetal growth retardation (IUGR) in the 28th and 34th week of pregnancy. Birthweight percentile and ponderal index were used as standards for fetal growth. The sensitivity of predicting impaired fetal growth varied between 17% and 33%, depending on the week of pregnancy and the standards used to define growth retardation. It was concluded that this method is too insensitive as a screening tool for the prediction of fetal growth retardation.