In this article we will talk about such an issue of concern to many pregnant girls, as a violation of uteroplacental blood flow. Causes of circulatory disorders in the mother-fetus system, their symptoms, the dangers of such disorders and the possibilities for treatment.
Contents of the article:
- Causes of circulatory disorders in the mother-fetus system
- Basic symptoms of the disease
- Diagnosis
- Three degrees of the pathology of
- Basic principles of treatment
- Forecast
Disorders of utero-placental blood flow are more correctly termed "violation of uterine-fetal blood flow", sinceconditionally, blood circulation in the mother-fetus system can be divided into two components:
- uterine-placental blood flow.
- Feto-placental blood flow.
Blood flow disorders in either of these systems or in both are immediately called obstetrical impairments of uterine-fetal blood flow.
The conditional boundary between these two systems can be called a placenta - a temporary organ of pregnancy, formed by the ingrowth of the chorionic villus into the mucous membrane of the uterine wall. The placenta is a filter consisting of numerous intertwining of different-level vessels in which the maternal blood, not mingling with the fruit, gives oxygen and nutrients to the flow of blood, and takes back harmful substances and metabolic products.
The placenta is the most important organ for the fetus, which ensures its normal life Let's try to understand this complex system of blood streams:
- The placenta is nourished from the uterus by the mother arteries - uterine arteries and spiral arteries. They are the constituent component of the first level of blood supply to the pregnant uterus and fetus.
- Spiral arteries feed the placenta, forming directly the placental blood flow.
- The placenta forms the umbilical cord or umbilical cord - a complex of three vessels - two arteries and one vein, surrounded by a special jelly-like substance. In the umbilical vein, the blood rich in oxygen and nutrients moves to the umbilical ring of the fetus, then blood supply to the liver and other vital organs of the fetus. Blood flows in the umbilical vessels form the second component of the circulation in the mother-fetus system.
- Large arteries of the fetus in the vital organs - the aorta, the cerebral artery form the third component of the circulation.
Fetal blood circulation. Click on photo to enlarge In case of blood flow disorders at any level, the fetus lacks nutrients and oxygen - intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus or its oxygen starvation is formed. Intrauterine hypoxia can be both acute and rapidly leading to fetal death, and chronic - long and slow, the main symptom of which is the delay in fetal growth( abbreviated as PID).
Depending on the severity and extent of blood flow disorders, the condition can be observed and treated conservatively( when it is not very dangerous) or urgently delivering the woman at any time of pregnancy to save the child's life.
Obstetricians-gynecologists in close contact with doctors of perinatal ultrasound diagnostics are engaged in the problem of blood flow disorders in the mother-fetus system, since ultrasound is the main function for determining the direct disorders and their degrees.
Causes of circulatory disorders in the mother-fetus system
- Placental abnormalities - the formation and functioning of the placenta. Such violations can be primary - at the stage of pregnancy - placental abruption, lack of progesterone, infertile mucous membrane of the uterus. Also, the placenta already formed may suffer. This leads to violations in the system of coagulation, infection, placenta trauma.
- Coagulation system disorders are spontaneous and induced thromboses. Thrombi overlap the large and small branches of the vessels of the uterus and the placenta.
- Intrauterine infections damage the placenta and trigger mechanisms for the formation of thrombi.
- Complications of pregnancy - Rhesus-conflict, gestosis, twin steal syndrome, placental abruption, premature birth.
- The lack of nutrients and vitamins - in particular, iron deficiency - anemia.
- Diseases of the mother - diabetes mellitus, hypertension, thrombophilia, vascular and vascular wall defects, heart and lung diseases.
- Exposure to harmful environmental factors - harmful industrial conditions, the effects of drugs, smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction.
- Stress and nerve strain.
Glucometer for measuring blood sugar. The presence of diabetes in the mother can lead to impaired blood circulation in the mother-fetus system The main symptoms of the disease
External these symptoms are called because the main method for diagnosing violations of placental and fetal blood flow is the ultrasound with Dopplerometry, which will be discussed below in a separatesection.
How can you suspect the suffering of the fetus before carrying out an ultrasound examination?
- Insufficient increase or total absence of increase in the main indicators of measurement of the pregnant belly with the next intake - the height of the standing of the uterine fundus and the abdominal circumference. It is these two sizes of centimeter tape that the doctor measures every time a pregnant woman is taken.
- Unsatisfactory results of listening to the fetal heart by a doctor when examined. Each examination of the future mother is accompanied by listening to the heart tones of the fetus with the help of a special tube - obstetric stethoscope. If the doctor notes a change in the fetal heart rate, muffled tones, no response of the heartbeats to the movement, then this should alert the medic.
- Unfavorable profile of fetal movements. This symptom is clearly marked by the woman herself. A pregnant woman may complain of a weakening of her movements, long periods of "silence" of the fetus or an excessively violent stirring. The simplest test for the motor activity of the fetus is the test "Count to ten."In this case, the pregnant woman within 12 hours should count at least 10 separate movements of the fetus.
- Dysfunctional or disturbing types of CTG - cardiotocography. This procedure of recording the electrical activity of the fetal heart is performed by every reception in a female consultation, starting from 28-30 weeks. CTG is a very sensitive method for assessing the fetal condition, therefore, in cases of cardiocoogram disorders, it is necessary to perform ultrasound examination of the fetus and its blood flow.
These are the four main points in which there are objective reasons to suspect a breach of the blood supply to the uterus and fetus. There are still relative indications for additional diagnostic measures regarding uterine-fetal blood flow:
- Multiple pregnancy, especially in the presence of monochorionic twins. Such twins have one placenta for two, so the latter often does not cope with such a load, especially in late pregnancy.
- Placental abnormalities - placental hypoplasia, placental placental, as well as premature aging.
- Anomalies in the structure of the umbilical cord or the presence of its true nodes - such nodes are formed with active fetal movement.
- Presence of intrauterine infection - viral, bacterial or other.
- Rh-conflict of mother and fetus by Rh factor or blood group. Such conflict is primarily diagnosed by the presence of antibodies in the mother's blood.
- Gestational diabetes maternal mother developed during an existing pregnancy, or pre-existing diabetes.
- Gestosis is a complication of late pregnancy, characterized by increased blood pressure, swelling and the appearance of protein in the urine.
- Maternal hypertension.
- Any cardiac or vascular pathology of the mother.
- Blood clotting disorders - especially the tendency to thrombosis. These disorders include hereditary thrombophilia and antiphospholipid syndrome.
All these factors at times increase the risk of developing blood flow disorders in the "mother-fetus" system, therefore they are subject to close monitoring.
Cardiocography can be used to evaluate fetal heart rate in rest, motion and with uterine contractions. . Diagnosis of blood flow disorders.
. The gold standard for the diagnosis of perinatal blood flow disorders is ultrasound examination of the fetus with mandatory dopplerometry. The method of dopplerometry is based on the measurement of the rates, indices of resistance and other indices of blood currents in the vessels. The world medical community has developed a huge number of tables and schemes of dopplerometry of each vessel.
In midwifery, the evaluation of fetal circulation is performed on the following vessels:
- Uterine arteries - evaluation of the first link of the mother-fetus system. Careful attention to indicators of uterine arteries is given in pregnant women with heart and vascular diseases, anemia, arterial hypertension, gestosis and gestational diabetes mellitus.
- umbilical cord - evaluation of the "mother-fetus" system - indicators of blood flow from the placenta to the baby. The most commonly estimated indices of blood flow in the umbilical artery.
- The middle or median cerebral artery is a potent vessel in the fetal brain. The blood flow in this vessel is extremely important and significant in the presence of conflict in the Rh system or blood groups, fetal anemia, as well as suspected fetal malformations.
The doctor repeatedly measures the blood flow and correlates the obtained values with the tables. These are extremely variable indicators, they can vary considerably depending on external and internal factors:
- The gestation period is up to one week.
- Number of fruits and placenta - for twins and triplets, their dopplerometry.
- The arterial pressure of the mother - the doctor of ultrasound is always interested in the pregnant woman with the figures of her pressure.
- Mammary hemoglobin levels - with anemia, blood flow rates can vary significantly.
- Smoking and other bad habits of the mother.
- Drugs.
- Tonus uterus - as usual hypertension, and regular contractions, for example, in childbirth.
Tonus of the uterus( hypertonus) - contraction of the muscular layer of the uterus In addition to dopplerometry, the doctor conducts so-called fetometry - measuring the size of the fetus and calculating its estimated weight. If the fetus lags far behind in development from the average statistical indicators, the doctor is entitled to make a diagnosis of "Fetal growth retardation", or ZRP.Such a lag in the growth of the fetus is observed in chronic hypoxia - that is, the fruit receives less oxygen and nutrients for quite a long time - several weeks and even months.
Based on the received indices, the ultrasound diagnostician diagnoses: "Disruption of uterine-fetal blood flow" and indicates the degree. If there is a delay in the growth of the fetus, the diagnosis is supplemented by the wording "ZRP".
Now we will talk in detail about the classification of degrees of blood flow disorders.
Three degrees of pathology
There are three main degrees of disorders of uterine-fetal blood flow:
- I degree - minor disorders in one of the conditioned circulatory systems. The first degree has two substitutions:
- I A - abnormalities of uteroplacental blood flow with preserved feto-placental blood flow. This means a violation of blood circulation in the uterine artery system.
- I B - violation of feto-placental blood flow with stored utero-placental blood flow. In this case, the uterine arteries fully perform their function, but at the postplacental level there are violations.
Treatment of disorders of the uterine blood flow
Obligatory treatment requires almost all degrees of blood flow disorders. The question is, what degree of blood flow disorders have been detected, and whether it is accompanied by a delay in fetal growth.
The most "harmless" are violations of uteroplacental blood flow at 1a degree. It is important to understand that this kind of violations is sometimes an accidental finding with the next ultrasound. This condition can occur against a background of increased blood pressure of the mother, her agitation, fatigue, lowering of the hemoglobin level. This degree does not always speak of the suffering of the fetus and often passes on its own for several hours after a rest or a walk in the fresh air. However, this does not mean that you need to "give up" on the diagnosis. A pregnant woman should pass the control ultrasound after 5-7 days, and during the week several times to write CTG.
The main methods of treatment of violations of fetal blood flow:
- Normalization of the way of life and nutrition of a pregnant woman. It is important to walk a lot in the fresh air, sleep at least 8 hours at night and try to at least an hour to rest in the daytime, avoid long sitting in an uncomfortable position, move a lot, eat normally and fully.
- Control of blood pressure - this is one of the most important parameters that cause uterine blood flow. If there is an arterial hypertension, you should constantly take the medications prescribed by your doctor and monitor the pressure yourself.
- Treatment of intrauterine infection with antiviral drugs and antibiotics.
- Treatment of extragenital pathology - normalization of the sugar level, normalization of the hemoglobin level, control of body weight, correction of the blood coagulation system. The latter includes the administration of low-molecular heparin preparations - Fragmin, Fraksiparin and others.
- Use of antispasmodics - No-shpy, Drotaverina, Papaverina. These drugs relax the wall of the uterus and spiral arteries, increasing blood flow.
- The intake of magnesium-magnesium preparations has a relaxing effect on the uterine wall and a powerful protective effect on the central nervous system of the fetus. The latter factor is important in the development of hypoxia.
- The use of "vascular" drugs - a large group of disaggregants, angioprotectors and improving microcirculation and trophic tissue of drugs. The most common drugs in obstetrics are Pentoxifylline, Dipiridamol, Actovegin and their derivatives.
- In case of Rhesus conflict, plasmapheresis is prescribed - purification of the mother's blood on a special device to reduce the amount of fetal antibodies damaging the erythrocytes.
- In the case of acute fetal hypoxia against a background of blood flow disorders of II and III degree, inefficiency of conservative therapy, as well as pronounced delay in fetal growth, it is expedient to preschedule delivery regardless of the gestational age. Most often resort to cesarean section operation, as the stimulation of labor is an additional burden on the already suffering fetus. The principle "outside is better than inside" perfectly suits these situations.
Prognosis for
The prognosis depends entirely on the degree of blood flow disorders, the duration of their course and the duration of pregnancy. The longer the duration of the course of hypoxia and the higher the degree of blood flow, and the less the period of pregnancy, the worse the prognosis. Children born after prolonged intra-uterine suffering are characterized by growth and mental retardation, especially after an emergency delivery until 37 weeks of pregnancy.
In case of untimely diagnosis and inadequate response to circulatory disturbances, the situation can sharply worsen - there is acute fetal hypoxia, fraught with its death or severe lesions of the central nervous system.
Significantly worse circulatory disorders on the background of extragenital pathology or gestosis. About 40% of gestosis is complicated by circulatory disorders in the mother-fetus system.
With adequate and timely treatment, the condition can, if not cure completely, at least stabilize. This allows you to "grow" the baby to the maximum possible time, after which his birth will be safe.
