ABSTRACT
we examined the serum copper level in 125 pregnant women (83) normal pregnant women of 28～40 weeks of pregnancy; 12 patients with se-vere edema-proteinurine-hyperterision syndromeduring 37～40 weeks of pregnancy; 30 patientswith prolonged pregnancy) and compared it withurine E/C value and Apgar score in order to deter-mine the reliability of serum copper value in diag-nosing placental insufficiency. The results con-firmed that the serum copper value was increasingwith the growth of weeks of pregnancy, but it wasdecreasing after the fortieth week of pregnancy.Comparison of the serum copper value with theurine E/C value showed that when the E/C or = 10. And when the Apgar score7. These results indicatethat the serum copper value can serve as an indexof placental function in the third trimester of preg-nancy.