Radiology, Vol 165, 455-458, Copyright © 1987 by Radiological Society of North America
Use of furosemide in pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios
BN Raghavendra, BK Young, MA Greco, I Lustig-Gillman, SC Horii, MA Hirsch and J Yee
Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, NY 10016.
To differentiate pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios due to
intrauterine growth retardation from those due to renal agenesis, the
authors administered furosemide intravenously to eight pregnant women
(19-25 weeks gestation) with oligohydramnios. The fetal abdomen was scanned
with ultrasound to demonstrate the fetal urinary bladder. In six fetuses,
sonography failed to demonstrate the bladder: two fetuses had growth
retardation with normal kidneys and bladder, and four had renal anomalies.
It is concluded that administration of furosemide to the mother fails to
induce diuresis in growth-retarded fetuses of 19-23 weeks gestation and
that failure to see the fetal bladder after furosemide administration does
not necessarily indicate absent fetal kidneys.
