tational week 14.9 was performed. Pulsatility Index (PI) wasmeasured and mean calculated. To correlate for gestationalage PI was expressed as multiples of the median (MoM).

Results: The levels of HRG did not significantly differ be-tween controls and women developing preeclampsia in totalbut there was a significant difference between controls andwomen developing preterm preeclampsia (82.7 lg/mL com-pared to 45.0 lg/mL, p = 0.001). The median PI MoM differedsignificantly for all cases compared to controls (1.1 com-pared to 1.0, p < 0.05) and for preterm preeclampsia com-pared to controls (1.6 compared to 1.0, p < 0.001). Areceiver–operator characteristic curve, regarding a combina-tion of HRG and PI to test arbitrarily chosen cut-off valuesfor prediction of preterm preeclampsia, revealed a sensitiv-ity of 91% and a specificity of 62%.

Conclusion: The combination of HRG and uterine arteryDoppler might be used as a possible predictor of pretermpreeclampsia in early pregnancy.

doi:10.1016/j.preghy.2011.08.081

P22. Role of uterine artery doppler in pregnant womenwith chronic hypertensionB. Moita, E. Baptista, C. Marques, T. Bombas, N. Bento,M.S.J. Pais, P. Moura (Obstetrics Department of CoimbraUniversity Hospitals, Portugal)

Introduction/objectives: Abnormal placental vasculardevelopment is the basis of common obstetric disorderssuch as preeclampsia (PE). Uterine artery Doppler has beenused as a screening test of placental vasculopathy. Theobjective of this study was to examine the value of uterineartery Doppler investigation in predicting PE and perinataloutcome of patients with chronic hypertension.

Materials/methods: A retrospective study from January2005 to December 2009 was realized. Uterine artery veloci-metry was investigated at second trimester gestation in 107chronic hypertensive pregnant women and the presence ofbilateral diastolic notch was recorded. We compared twogroups: group I-without bilateral notch; group II-with bilat-eral notch.

Results: Twenty four percent of women had uterine ar-tery Doppler with bilateral notch (group II). Primiparitywas found in: I-36%; II-58% (p < 0,05) and overweight orobesity in: I-63% vs II-58% (p = ns). The development ofsuperimposed PE rate was higher in group II (I-11% vs II-35%) (p < 0,005), as well as intrauterine growth restriction(I-10% vs II-38%) (p < 0,05) and preterm delivery (I-11% vsII-35%) (p < 0,001). Caesarean section was performed in: I-44% vs II-85% (p < 0,001) and the mean gestacional age atdelivery time was: I -37 weeks vs II-36 weeks (p = ns).Regarding perinatal outcome, in group II birthweight meanwas lower (I-3118gr vs II-2225gr) (p < 0,001) and a higherrate of admission in neonatal care unit was found (I-9.9%vs II-50%)(p < 0.001), although Apgar scores were similar be-tween the groups.

Conclusion: Doppler analysis of uterine arteries is able toselect chronic hypertensive pregnant women at risk ofsuperimposed preeclampsia and poor perinatal outcome.

The presenting investigator is eligible for the younginvestigator award (<35 years old).

doi:10.1016/j.preghy.2011.08.082

P23. Evaluation of a new, simple and rapid placentalgrowth factor test for the evaluation of hypertensivedisorders in pregnancyBalázs Stenczer, Attila Molvarec, Nóra Gullai, GergelyFügedi, Bálint Nagy, János Rigó Jr. (First Department ofObstetrics and Gynecology, Semmelweis University,Budapest, Hungary)

Objectives: Hypertensive disorders are the most commoncomplications of pregnancy, frequently leading to an ad-verse outcome. Maternal circulating placental growth factor(PlGF) concentrations are decreased in these women, in cor-relation with disease severity. There is a clinical need tomore accurately diagnose those forms of the disease thathave an increased likelihood of progressing to an adverse fe-tal or maternal outcome. The aim of this study was to test anew PlGF test, for measuring PlGF levels in maternal circula-tion, and to evaluate its clinical utility in various forms ofhypertensive disorders in pregnancy prior to the completionof the 37th week of pregnancy.

Methods: Thirty-one pregnant women with chronichypertension (CHTN), 33 with gestational hypertension(GHTN), 40 with preeclampsia (PE), 24 with HELLP-syn-drome, 24 with superimposed preeclampsia (SIPE) and 40healthy pregnant controls were enrolled in our case-controlstudy. Plasma was analysed for PlGF by the Alere Triage�

PlGF assay using fluorescently-labelled monoclonal antibod-ies against PlGF.

Results: For hypertension forms conjoined with protein-uria occurring before 35 weeks the sensitivity of the testwas the following: 95.7% for PE, 95.0% for HELLP-syndromeand 82.4% for SIPE. The negative predictive value of the testin exclusion of hypertension forms conjoined with protein-uria was 93.9%. A higher prevalence of preterm deliveryassociated with severe disease conditions (placental insuffi-ciency, severe hypertension, etc.) was shown in CHTN andGHTN groups in the case of a positive PlGF test [11/26(42.3%) vs. 3/38 (7.9%), OR: 8.6 (2.1–35.1)]. A strong associ-ation was demonstrated between PlGF concentrations andthe remaining time interval from the blood draw until thedelivery (R = 0.65, p < 0.0001) in hypertensive patients.

Conclusions: The new Triage� PlGF test can provide usefuladditional information to inform clinical decisions in preg-nancy-associated hypertensive disorders, especially beforethe 35th completed gestational week.

doi:10.1016/j.preghy.2011.08.083

P24. Prediction of preeclampsia during early pregnancyin primiparas with soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 andplacental growth factorDileep Kumar Rohra a,e, Amna Zeb b, Rahat NajamQureishi c, Syed Iqbal Azam b, Neelofur Babar Khan d,

Poster Presentations / Pregnancy Hypertension: An International Journal of Women’s Cardiovascular Health 1 (2011) 273–299 283