Does corticosteroid therapy affect fetal pulmonary artery blood flow in women at risk for preterm birth?

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that corticosteroid therapy alters fetal pulmonary blood flow in pregnancies at risk for preterm delivery. Patients and methods This was a prospective study that was conducted at Al-Zahraa University Hospital in Obstetrics and Cardiology Departments of Al-Azhar University on 50 pregnant women with a risk of preterm labor at a gestational age of 28–34 weeks during the period from November 2019 till May 2020. Intramuscular dexamethasone was given to participants of the study following the setting protocol as three doses of dexamethasone (8 mg/12 h). Evaluation of study was done before (day 0) and after (1 and 3 weeks) of the first dose of dexamethasone administration by modified biophysical profile and fetal pulmonary trunk. Evaluation of the pregnancy outcome regarding Apgar score, fetal birth, and admission to NICU was done. Results In the present study, results support altered fetal pulmonary blood flow with corticosteroid therapy. Conclusion According to this study, antenatal dexamethasone administration caused changes in the Doppler indices of fetal pulmonary trunk after 1 week and 3 weeks of corticosteroid injection owing to alteration in the fetal pulmonary blood flow in pregnancies at risk for preterm delivery