Fetal pulmonary artery acceleration/ejection time prognostic accuracy for respiratory complications in preterm prelabor rupture of membranes.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prognostic accuracy of the fetal pulmonary artery acceleration time/ejection time (PATET) for the prediction of neonatal respiratory complications (NRC) in pregnancies with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).

METHODS: This is a prospective cohort of singleton pregnancies complicated by PPROM managed in our institution from October 2015 to April 2018. Inclusion criteria included mothers from 13-46 years of age and singleton pregnancies with PATET measurements < 7 days prior to delivery. PATET was obtained by placing the Doppler caliper in the main pulmonary artery proximal to the bifurcation of this vessel. NRC was defined as: need for ventilatory support, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), or lung hypoplasia. Logistic regression models and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) were utilized to determine the prognostic accuracy of PATET and gestational age for NRC and RDS.

RESULTS: Of 95 patients included, 46 had NRC (RDS = 33). PATET was a significant predictor of NRC (AUC 0.74; 95%CI: 0.61-0.83; p < 0.001) and RDS (AUC 0.69; 95%CI: 0.57-0.80; p = 0.021) in PPROM. Gestational age at delivery and gestational age at PPROM were also significantly associated with NRC and RDS. Their predictive accuracy for NRC was 0.87 and 0.84, and for RDS 0.85 and 0.86, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: PATET is a statistically significant predictor for neonatal respiratory complications in pregnancies with PPROM; however, its clinical use may be limited as gestational age is a better predictor of these outcomes.

RATIONALE: Neonatal respiratory complications (NRC) are common in pregnancies complicated by preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM). We aim to determine the prognostic accuracy of the fetal pulmonary artery acceleration time/ejection time (PATET) for the prediction of neonatal NRC in these pregnancies. Our results indicate that PATET is a statistically significant predictor for neonatal respiratory complications in pregnancies with PPROM, however its clinical use may be limited, as gestational age is a better predictor of these outcomes.