the diagnosis of early fetal cardiac changes of the gestational diabetic mothers: presenting the preload index

Objectives: to evaluate fetal cardiac changes in gestational diabetic mothers, compared to healthy ones by means of different indices and to determine which index can first represent the alterations. methods: the study was conducted as an observational cross-sectional study, including 25 pregnant women with gestational diabetes as the cases and 50 healthy pregnant women as the controls. the preload index, left and right side myocardial performance index (mpi), interventricular septal hypertrophy, the left and right side cardiac output were assessed in all the patients. results: the gestational ages were 31.65 ± 8.02 and 31.64 ± 5.37 weeks in case and control group respectively, without any significant difference. both of the left and right ventricular mpi did not differ statistically between the case and controls. the cases had a greater interventricular septal hypertrophy but the cardiac output was similar. the preload index was higher in the fetuses of the gestational diabetic mothers. conclusions: in our study, the mpi did not show any difference between the fetuses of the gestational diabetic mothers and nondiabetic ones; but, fetuses of gestational diabetic mothers had a greater value of pli, representing early diastolic function changes in right heart even before the overt heart failure occurred. this could be a sign of vasculopathy in gestational diabetic mothers.