Studio longitudinale della funzione cardiaca materna nelle gravidanze gemellari

Objective: to assess if the occurrence of adverse pregnancy outcome may be related to specific maternal cardiac parameters. Study design: women with twin pregnancies were prospectively submitted to serial maternal echocardiography (20-23 weeks; 26-29 weeks and 30-33 weeks). Cardiac findings were compared between patients with uneventful pregnancy outcome and those who developed one of the following complications: preeclampsia or gestational hypertension, SGA neonates or IUGR. Results: A group of 28 twin gestations was obtained for analysis, including 8 complicated cases. At each visit cardiac output (CO) and stroke volume (SV) were significantly higher whereas total vascular resistance (TVR) was lower among uncomplicated vs complicated twin pregnancies. Conclusions: At longitudinal evaluation, maternal cardiac findings seem to be significantly different between uneventful twin pregnancies and those complicated.