Nonuniformity of fetal umbilical systolic/diastolic ratios as determined with duplex Doppler sonography.
Fetal umbilical arterial systolic/diastolic (S/D) ratios are said to be uniform throughout the umbilical cord. We evaluated this phenomenon by performing duplex Dopper on 73 fetuses at three sites in the umbilical cord: near the placental origin, in the free-floating midcord, and near the fetal abdominal wall insertion. Twenty-one of 73 fetuses examined (29%) demonstrated pronounced nonuniformity of the S/D ratios with a discrepancy of 1 or greater between any two S/D measurements. Studies demonstrated the highest S/D ratios at the fetal abdominal wall and lowest S/D ratios at the placental origin. These findings suggest that umbilical arterial flow velocity waveforms (FVWs) and S/D ratios are not uniform throughout the cord in all patients. The significance of this finding is uncertain; however, this variability in umbilical cord flow velocity waveforms stresses the importance of identifying the portion of the umbilical cord from which S/D ratios are obtained.
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Related Subject Headings
- Umbilical Cord
- Umbilical Arteries
- Ultrasonography
- Ultrasonics
- Regional Blood Flow
- Pregnancy
- Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
- Myocardial Contraction
- Humans
- Female
Citation
Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Umbilical Cord
- Umbilical Arteries
- Ultrasonography
- Ultrasonics
- Regional Blood Flow
- Pregnancy
- Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
- Myocardial Contraction
- Humans
- Female