Effect of hydration therapy on oligohydramnios
Background: Oligamnios is defined as an AFI <5cm, SDP <2cms or an AFI below the 5th centile for the gestational age and is associated with many maternal and perinatal complications. An effective, non-invasive method of increasing AFV is the hydration therapy. The objective of present study was to determine the impact of hydration therapy in patients complicated by oligamnios and to measure the maternal and perinatal outcome in oligamnios corrected by Intravenous hydration therapy.Methods: It is a randomised control trial done at Government Medical College, Kottayam, Kerala, India from Jan 2012 to May 2013. 136 singleton pregnant females with gestation age >34 weeks with AFI <5 cms were randomised into an Intervention group who receive 1 litre of ringer lactate i.v given daily for 5 days and nonintervention group who were kept under observation by serial ultrasound and antepartum fetal surveillance. All were followed-up till delivery to obtain maternal and perinatal outcomes.Results: Among the 68 who were given intervention, 61 responded and 7 were non responders. With hydration therapy, mean increase in AFI was 4 cm and minimum duration needed for improvement was one week. Hydration therapy showed significant improvement in the maternal and fetal outcomes. Intravenous route of maternal hydration has the advantage that a fixed amount of fluid can be infused at a relatively constant rate with ensured compliance.Conclusions: From the study, it was concluded that Hydration therapy is an excellent method to improve AFI in Oligohydramnios and maternal and perinatal outcome.