OBJECTIVE:

To explore the different pharmacological treatment strategies for fetal growth restriction proposed over time.

METHODOLOGY:

Quasi-systematic review of the available historical scientific evidence on the medical treatment described for the care of pregnant women with fetal growth restriction.

RESULTS:

Among the medical treatments described to treat fetal growth restriction, nitric oxide donors, statins, and aspirin associated with omega-3 have had inconsistent outcomes in studies with limited sample size. As for 5-phosphodiesterase inhibitors, sildenafil has not been associated with an increase in fetal growth velocity, but there have been alarms regarding its safety due to the increase in cases of fetal pulmonary hypertension and perinatal mortality. On the other hand, tadalafil has shown favorable initial outcomes and studies with a larger sample size are awaited to issue clear recommendations regarding its indication. The results of ongoing clinical studies are also awaited to define the indication of low molecular weight heparin in this setting, given its promising initial results. More invasive procedures, such as vascular endothelial growth factor injection and plasmapheresis, remain under study as therapeutic proposals due to the results of preclinical and clinical studies with few patients.

CONCLUSION:

For now, no proposed pharmacological strategy has managed to generate strong recommendations for its indication; however, new studies with high methodological quality are expected to generate scientific evidence strong enough to recommend its indication.