Umbilical artery Doppler-When to ask for??

Why Umbilical arterial Doppler assessment

 Q.1:-Purpose :-Umbilical arterial (UA) Doppler assessment is used in surveillance of fetal well-being in the third trimester of pregnancy.   : Q 2  How does this study of vessels help clinicians??  Ans:-Abnormal umbilical artery Doppler is a marker of placental insufficiency and consequent intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or suspected pre-eclampsia.  Umbilical artery Doppler assessment has been shown to reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity in high-risk obstetric situations if appropriate and timely action is taken.

 Q. 3:-Any risk to the procedure?? Ans : ??? Heating/thermal effects: As a general rule, a degree of caution should be exercised with the routine use of Doppler in pregnancy, due to the concerns related to heating/thermal effects from the high intensities of Doppler ultrasound.

Q.4   Indications:-Umbilical Doppler assessment is indicated, not in all cases but only  in scenarios where   A) Previous Obstet history or B)  current preg findings that there is a possible risk of there is a risk of fetal growth restriction or poor perinatal outcome. It is also used to stage twin-twin transfusion . C)  Multifoetal gestation:-AS mentioned earlier that Doppler US evaluation of the fetoplacental circulation is not indicated in low-risk pregnancies 

Q .5: What are the Maternal conditions where Umbilical Doppler assessment is indicated??

·         diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Heart diseases,  Resp problems , Bronchospastic diseases  in particular, Other connective tissue disorders  , HIC infection, Obese women ,

·         prothrombotic states & diseases(hypercoagulable states)

·         chronic kidney disease

·         Anaemia, Thalassaemia, SLE,

Pregnancy-related conditions

·         suspected IUGR,

·         , P/H/O (previous history of ) pregnancy with IUGR or fetal death in utero

·         decreased fetal movement

·         oligohydramnios

·         polyhydramnios

·         multifetal pregnancy