Analysis of fetal breathing movements at 30–38 weeks of gestation
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Jesús Florido
Abstract
Aims: This study reports the changes in patterns of fetal breathing movements recorded with a photogrammetric method in three successive periods of gestation.
Methods: Respiratory movements were studied in fetuses of 28 healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies of 30–38 weeks of gestation. Women were divided into three groups according to gestational age of the fetus: 30–32 weeks, 7 fetuses; 33–36 weeks, 9 fetuses; and 37–38 weeks, 12 fetuses. Sonographic images of the fetuses were recorded on videotape, digitized (1 image per 0.12 s) and analyzed with specially developed software.
Results: The proportion of fetuses in each age group for which movements were detectable was similar in all three groups, as was the frequency of movements. Duration of a complete respiratory cycle, the inspiratory phase and the expiratory phase tended to be shorter at 33–36 weeks of gestation than in younger and older fetuses. Fetuses in the 30–32-week group had slower breathing rates than fetuses in the two older groups.
Conclusions: The photogrammetric technique revealed differences in some patterns of fetal breathing movements between weeks 30–32, 33–36 and 37–38 of gestation. The data provide a sound basis for relating changes in fetal breathing movements with physiological and anatomical changes that occur as the respiratory system matures.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Global approach to perinatal medicine: functional genomics and proteomics
- Fetal and maternal Doppler velocimetry and cytokines in high-risk pregnancy
- IL-8 concentrations in maternal serum, amniotic fluid and cord blood in relation to different pathogens within the amniotic cavity
- Placental pathology and pregnancy outcomes in donor and non-donor oocyte in vitro fertilization pregnancies
- Blink-startle reflex habituation in 30–34-week low-risk fetuses
- Analysis of fetal breathing movements at 30–38 weeks of gestation
- Influence of perinatal factors on hematological variables in umbilical cord blood
- The potential of four-dimensional (4D) ultrasonography in the assessment of fetal awareness
- Early prognostic significance of umbilical cord troponin I in critically ill newborns. Prospective study with a control group
- Is the use of early nasal CPAP associated with lower rates of chronic lung disease and retinopathy of prematurity? Nine years of experience with the Vermont Oxford Neonatal Network
- Fetal growth restriction associated with measles virus infection during pregnancy
- Prenatal diagnosis of hemifacial microsomia by magnetic resonance imaging
- Mega-dose carbamazepine complicating third trimester of pregnancy
- Meconium peritonitis secondary to torsion of fallopian tube cyst and transient central diabetes insipidus in a preterm infant
- Congenital syphilis: β2-microglobulin in cerebrospinal fluid and diagnosis of neurosyphilis in an affected newborn
- Normalization of a severely abnormal ductus venosus Doppler flow velocity waveform in the presence of normal arterial flow parameters
