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Umbilical artery pulsatility index: reliability at different sampling sites

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Published/Copyright: September 11, 2006
Journal of Perinatal Medicine
From the journal Volume 34 Issue 5

Abstract

Objectives: To analyse the inter-observer and inter-artery reliability of the umbilical artery (UA) pulsatility index (PI) at different sampling sites.

Methods: One hundred consecutive singleton pregnancies between 24 and 40 weeks were included. The PI was calculated by two independent operators from both umbilical arteries at the placental end, at a free-floating loop and at the perivesical segment. Reliability analyses were performed between observers and between arteries at each sampling site.

Results: The mean percentage of PI difference between arteries was 15.2, 14.5 and 22% at the placental end, free-loop and perivesical site, respectively. The Intraclass correlation coefficients at each site were 0.51, 0.59 and 0.67, respectively. Whereas about 20% of cases showed a percentage of PI difference between arteries greater than 20% at free-loop and placental end sites, and at the perivesical site this figure was 45%.

Conclusions: The perivesical sampling site for UA PI calculation is more reliable than at a free-floating loop, albeit without significance, and is significantly more reliable than at the placental end of the umbilical cord. Since discordances in PI between both arteries are more pronounced at the perivesical site, it seems mandatory to evaluate both arteries in this segment.

Keywords: Circulation; Doppler; fetus; placenta; reliability analysis; umbilical artery
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Corresponding author: Francesc Figueras Retuerta, MD Obstetrics Department Hospital Clinic Sabino de Arana, 1 08034 Barcelona, Spain Tel.: +34-932275600 Fax: +34-932275605

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Published Online: 2006-09-11
Published in Print: 2006-10-01

©2006 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

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  9. Early weight gain does not decrease the incidence of low birth weight and small for gestational age triplets in mothers with normal pre-gestational body mass index
  10. Umbilical artery pulsatility index: reliability at different sampling sites
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  14. Congress Calendar
https://doi.org/10.1515/JPM.2006.081
Keywords for this article
Circulation; Doppler; fetus; placenta; reliability analysis; umbilical artery

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Non-selective fetal reduction is malpractice
  2. Guidelines for the management of spontaneous preterm labor
  3. Accuracy of second trimester fetal head circumference and biparietal diameter for predicting the time of spontaneous birth
  4. The association between maternal cervicovaginal proinflammatory cytokines concentrations during pregnancy and subsequent early-onset neonatal infection
  5. Leukocytosis might precede in-hospital eclampsia in preeclamptic women who do not receive magnesium sulfate
  6. Randomized prospective comparative study of ursodeoxycholic acid and S-adenosyl-L-methionine in the treatment of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
  7. Coagulation-fibrinolysis is more enhanced in twin than in singleton pregnancies
  8. Fetal behavior analyzed by ultrasonic actocardiogram in cases with central nervous system lesions
  9. Early weight gain does not decrease the incidence of low birth weight and small for gestational age triplets in mothers with normal pre-gestational body mass index
  10. Umbilical artery pulsatility index: reliability at different sampling sites
  11. Inferior vena cava diameter pulse waveforms in the human fetus: relationship with flow velocity waveform
  12. A trial of preventing early- and late-onset Group B streptococcal sepsis with combined intrapartum chemoprophylaxis and universal neonatal screening
  13. Impact of prenatal urinomas in patients with posterior urethral valves and postnatal renal function
  14. Congress Calendar
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