RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FETAL RIGHT HEART DOPPLER FINDINGS WITH LAMELLAR BODY AND FETAL LUNG MATURITY

Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of fetal right heart doppler findings in determining pulmonary maturity. Method:The study focused on women with late preterm and term pregnancies. The main measurements included the doppler findings of the main pulmonary arter and the right pulmonary artery, as well as the E/A wave ratio of the mitral valve, which represents the ratio of peak blood flow velocity during left ventricular relaxation in early diastole to peak velocity during late diastole caused by atrial contraction, and the lamellar body count. Result:We observed a significantly higher mean number of lamellar body count in the control group (84.70± 42.77) compared to the study group (41.21±34.81).Additionally, we noticed that the systolic-diastolic ratio (S/D) of the MPA and RPA was significantly higher in the preterm group (7.8±1.9, 7.4 ± 1.2) compared to the term group (6.7±1.3,6.1±1.6).However, we did not find any significant difference in the pulsatile index and resistance indices of RPA and MPA, as well as the acceleration/ejection time ratio. Conclusion:We observed that the systolic-diastolic ratio of the main pulmonary artery and right pulmonary artery was significantly higher in preterm cases (study group). Fetal lung maturity can be non-invasively assessed using Doppler ultrasonography.