title: The ductus venosus in early pregnancy and congenital anomalies.
abstract: The ductus venosus (DV) is a tiny vessel leading oxygenated blood from the placenta to the fetal heart and its flow assessment has been used as an indicator of fetal acidemia. At 11 to 14 weeks, the fetuses with increased nuchal translucency also showing an abnormal DV blood flow were consistently found to be aneuploid. Early cardiac dysfunction, signaled by abnormal DV blood flow, was suggested as the underlying cause of increased nuchal translucency. Detection rates for aneuploidy with the use of DV blood flow studies range from 59 to 93% with 2 to 21% false-positive rates. In fetuses with normal karyotype, an abnormal DV flow pattern signals cardiac defects or adverse perinatal outcome.
authors.affiliation: Prenatal Diagnosis Unit, Institute of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona Medical School Barcelona Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borrell
mesh_terms: D000782:Aneuploidy; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005333:Fetus / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009333:Neck / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000196:embryology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal