Effects of umbilical arterial resistance on its arterial blood flow velocity waveforms.
BACKGROUND
We propose to clarify the effect of umbilical arterial resistance on umbilical arterial blood flow patterns in normal pregnant women.


METHODS
Pulsed Doppler examination was administered to 145 pregnant women of between 28 and 31 weeks of normal gestation without any prenatal complications.


METHODS
The arterial flow velocity waveforms from two different arteries, one in the intra-abdominal portion and the other at the placental insertion, were sampled with the color flow mapping method, and the peak systolic velocity and the resistance index were calculated.


RESULTS
The peak systolic velocity and resistance index on the placental side were significantly lower than those of the fetal side.


CONCLUSIONS
A major difference exists between the umbilical arterial flow velocity waveforms on the fetal and placental sides, which might be caused by difference in the umbilical arterial resistance.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,School of Medicine, and the College of Nursing, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan.
M
M
Mine
J
J
Nishio
Y
Y
Nakai
M
M
Imanaka
S
S
Ogita
D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000502:physiology*; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D018617:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Pulsed; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal; D014469:Umbilical Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000502:physiology*