Second- to third-trimester longitudinal growth assessment for prediction of small-for-gestational age and late fetal growth restriction.

OBJECTIVE: Detection of fetal growth restriction (FGR) remains poor and most screening strategies rely on cross-sectional evaluation of fetal size during the third trimester. A longitudinal and individualized approach has been proposed as an alternative method of evaluation. The aim of this study was to compare second- to third-trimester longitudinal growth assessment to cross-sectional evaluation in the third trimester for the prediction of small-for-gestational age (SGA) and late FGR in low-risk singleton pregnancy. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study of 2696 unselected consecutive low-risk singleton pregnancies scanned at 21 ± 2 and 32 ± 2 weeks. For cross-sectional growth assessment, abdominal circumference (AC) measurements were transformed to z-values according the 21st-INTERGROWTH standards. Longitudinal growth assessment was performed by calculating the AC z-velocity and the second- to third-trimester AC conditional growth centile. Longitudinal assessment was compared with cross-sectional assessment at 32 weeks. Association of cross-sectional and longitudinal evaluations with SGA and late FGR was assessed by logistic regression analysis. Predictive performance was determined by receiver-operating characteristics curve analysis. RESULT: In total, 210 (7.8%) newborns were classified as SGA and 103 (3.8%) as late FGR. Neither longitudinal measurement improved the association with SGA or late FGR provided by cross-sectional evaluation of AC z-score at 32 weeks. Areas under the curves of AC z-velocity and conditional AC growth were significantly smaller than those of cross-sectional AC z-scores (P < 0.001), although AC z-velocity performed significantly better than did conditional AC growth (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Longitudinal assessment of fetal growth from the second to third trimester has a low predictive capacity for SGA and late FGR in low-risk singleton pregnancy compared with cross-sectional growth evaluation. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Longitudinal growth assessment for prediction of adverse perinatal outcome in fetuses suspected to be small-for-gestational age.

OBJECTIVE: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with an increased risk of adverse perinatal outcome. However, distinguishing this condition from small-for-gestational age (SGA) remains elusive. A set of criteria has been proposed recently for such a purpose, including the degree of smallness, Doppler parameters and growth velocity. The aim of this study was to establish whether the use of growth velocity adds value to Doppler assessment in predicting adverse perinatal outcome among SGA-suspected fetuses. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study of consecutive singleton pregnancies with late (diagnosis ≥ 32.0 weeks) SGA (estimated fetal weight (EFW) < 10th centile). Longitudinal growth assessment was performed by calculation of EFW z-velocity between diagnosis and last scan before delivery. Improvement in the association with and predictive performance of EFW z-velocity for adverse perinatal outcome was compared against standard criteria of FGR evaluated before delivery (EFW < 3rd centile, abnormal uterine Doppler or abnormal cerebroplacental ratio). RESULT: A total of 472 patients were evaluated prospectively for suspected SGA. Of these, 231 (48.9%) qualified as late FGR. Univariate analysis showed a significant trend towards higher frequency (14.5% vs 8.2%; P = 0.041) of EFW z-velocity in the lowest decile in pregnancies with adverse perinatal outcome. Nonetheless, the addition of EFW z-velocity improved neither the association with nor the predictive performance of standard criteria of FGR for adverse perinatal outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal assessment of fetal growth by means of EFW z-velocity did not have any independent predictive value for adverse perinatal outcome when used in combination with Doppler in SGA-suspected fetuses. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Risk of fetal death in growth-restricted fetuses with umbilical and/or ductus venosus absent or reversed end-diastolic velocities before 34 weeks of gestation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to establish the risk of fetal death in early-onset growth-restricted fetuses with absent or reversed end-diastolic velocities in the umbilical artery or ductus venosus. DATA SOURCES: A systematic search was performed to identify relevant studies published in English, Spanish, French, Italian, or German using the databases PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and SCOPUS, without publication time restrictions. STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The study criteria included observational cohort studies and randomized controlled trials of early-onset growth-restricted fetuses (diagnosed before 34 weeks of gestation), with information on the rate of fetal death occurring before 34 weeks of gestation and absent or reversed end-diastolic velocities in the umbilical artery and/or ductus venosus. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: For quality assessment, 2 reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies and the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for randomized trials. For the meta-analysis, odds ratio for both fixed and random-effects models (weighting by inverse of variance) were used. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using tau2, χ2 (Cochrane Q), and I2 statistics. Publication bias was assessed by a funnel plot for meta-analyses and quantified by the Egger method. RESULTS: A total of 31 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The odds ratios for fetal death (random-effects models) were 3.59 (95% confidence interval, 2.3-5.6), 7.27 (95% confidence interval, 4.6-11.4), and 11.6 (95% confidence interval, 6.3-19.7) for growth-restricted fetuses with umbilical artery absent end-diastolic velocities, umbilical artery reversed end-diastolic velocities, and ductus venosus absent or reversed end-diastolic velocities, respectively. There was no substantial heterogeneity among studies for any of the analyses. CONCLUSION: Early-onset growth-restricted fetuses with either umbilical artery or ductus venosus absent or reserved end-diastolic velocities are at a substantially increased risk for fetal death.