Doppler Ultrasound Makes Pregnancy Safer
Reported January 21, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Doppler ultrasound, used in high-risk pregnancies to monitor a fetus’s health, may reduce the number of Caesarean sections and still births.
Doppler ultrasound is a technique used to diagnose problems during pregnancy. Doppler ultrasound monitors the rate of umbilical blood flow in much the same way a speed radar measures how fast cars are traveling. Professionals can use this information to see whether the fetus is healthy with a normal blood flow, or is under stress with an abnormal blood flow. Health professionals can then decide which high-risk pregnancies will need assistance with delivery, and which women can deliver without assistance.
While the purpose of Doppler is to reduce risk to the baby, some experts argue that it may prompt some unnecessary early interventions. Researchers in the UK reviewed 18 studies which included 10,000 “high risk” women. High risk women included those who had previously miscarried, those carrying growth restricted babies and women with hypertension or diabetes. Women who were examined with Doppler ultrasound were compared with those who had no Doppler or with those who had cardiotocography (CTG), which monitors the baby’s heartbeat.
According to the results, Doppler reduced infant deaths, possibly through better timing of Caesarean sections, as well as reducing the number of Caesarean sections themselves, and inductions of labor. However, the researchers say, the studies included were of questionable quality.
“A case could certainly be made for a higher quality, multi-centre trial of Doppler ultrasound than we have so far seen,” lead researcher Zarko Alfirevic, who is based at the Division of Perinatal and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Liverpool, was quoted as saying. “It is quite possible that for some so-called high risk groups fetal Doppler offers little or no benefit. Women with diabetes are one such group where fetal Doppler may, in fact, give false reassurance.
Dr. Alfirevic explained, “It is important to point out, of course, that it is the clinical decision that follows a Doppler ultrasound examination that changes the outcome for the baby, and currently there is little agreement on what intervention should follow an abnormal Doppler finding.”