A longitudinal study of the relationship between placental and fetal growth as measured by ultrasonography

Article Abstract:

The placenta is the organ that nourishes the fetus. When the fetus has an inadequate supply of blood and oxygen from the placenta, growth retardation can result. Ultrasonography, the use of high frequency sound waves to visualize internal structures, can be employed to assess the size of the placenta and the fetus. The placentas and fetuses of 18 patients were measured by ultrasound to demonstrate if there is a relationship between the growth of the placenta and the fetus. Growth patterns, which are difficult to compare among patients, were modeled on an individual basis by placental volume and fetal weight. The shape of the models was then compared. (Normal growth patterns follow a particular model shape.) In four cases, the shape of the model indicated a reduction of placental and fetal growth during the last one to three weeks of pregnancy. In 11 infants, retarded growth of the placenta occurred three weeks before fetal growth retardation or fetal complications were present. It seems that the placenta has the capacity to supply nutrients up to a certain point; the growth potential of the fetus is compromised when the placenta can no longer fulfill its nutritional obligation.

Usage, Maternal-fetal exchange, Growth, Placenta, Fetal development, Prenatal ultrasonography, Ultrasonics in obstetrics

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Fetal brain sparing is associated with accelerated shortening of visual evoked potential latencies during early infancy

Article Abstract:

Shunting blood to the brain as an adaptive response to placental insufficiency may lead to accelerated maturation of the brain. Researchers flashed a light in the eyes of 105 prematurely born, severely growth retarded infants at the corrected ages of 6 months and 1 year and measured how long it took nerves to conduct an impulse to the brain. Faster conduction times meant the nerves had acquired their insulating myelin sheaths. Doppler ultrasound studies showed that some infants had selectively shunted blood to the brain while in the womb. These infants had faster nerve conduction times.

Measurement, Infants (Premature), Premature infants, Fetal growth retardation, Infant development, Visual evoked response, Visual evoked potentials, Fetal brain

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A randomized trial of plasma volume expansion in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: Influence on the pulsatility indices of the fetal umbilical artery and middle cerebral artery

Article Abstract:

The study investigates the effect of plasma volume expansion on the pulsatility indices of the fetal umbilical and middle cerebral arteries. Plasma volume expansion did not influence the pulsatility indices of the umbilical and middle cerebral arteries.

United States, Science & research, Research, Complications and side effects, Pregnancy, Complications of, Pregnancy complications, HELLP syndrome, Hypertension in pregnancy, Gestational hypertension, Umbilical arteries

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