Abstract
Objective:
To investigate whether fetal blood circulation is influenced by the maternal supine position.
Methods:
The inclusion criteria were good health, a singleton pregnancy, maternal age between 18 and 40 years, gestational age between 36 and 40 weeks, and an agreement to participate in the study. Each participant (n=20) was initially asked to adopt the left lateral position for 5 min, while fetal Doppler measurements were taken of the fetal middle cerebral artery (MCA), umbilical artery (UA), and umbilical vein (UV). Subsequently, they were asked to change to the supine position for Doppler measurements at 5 and at 10 min.
Results:
When a woman remained in the supine position for 5 min, there was a significant reduction in fetal MCA-pulsatility index (PI) (median 1.70 vs. 1.42, P=0.003). This reduction did not persist after 10 min (median 1.70 vs. 1.65 P=1.0). There was no significant difference between the left lateral and the supine position at 5 and at 10 min in terms of UA-PI (0.853 vs. 0.870 vs. 0.858, P=0.850), UV flow (217 vs. 242 vs. 236 mL/min, P=0.263), and normalized UV flow (72.2 vs. 80.8 vs. 78.8 mL/min/kg, P=0.271).
Conclusions:
Changing maternal position from the left lateral to the supine position caused a reduction in resistance in fetal MCA and no changes in UA or UV indices. However, despite the changes in cerebral circulation which occurred at 5 min by shifting position, they did not remain for 10 min. The changes may be related to reduction in maternal oxygen saturation as there was no decrease in UV blood flow.
Acknowledgments
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) funded this study with a research scholarship awarded to undergraduate student Karina Peres Silva (Case No. 2014/17216-9).
Competing interests: The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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The authors stated that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.
©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Intrapartum care
- Recommendation and Guidelines for Perinatal Practice
- Delivery modes in case of fetal malformations
- Review article
- Obstetric analgesia – update 2016
- Highlight articles
- Risk factors and outcomes in “well-selected” vaginal breech deliveries: a retrospective observational study
- Induction of labor in breech presentation at term: a retrospective cohort study
- Evaluating fetal head dimension changes during labor using open magnetic resonance imaging
- Risk factors of uterine rupture with a special interest to uterine fundal pressure
- Diagnostic accuracy of fetal scalp lactate for intrapartum acidosis compared with scalp pH
- Reference values for Lactate Pro 2™ in fetal blood sampling during labor: a cross-sectional study
- Linear and non-linear analysis of uterine contraction signals obtained with tocodynamometry in prediction of operative vaginal delivery
- Evaluation of simparteam – a needs-orientated team training format for obstetrics and neonatology
- Transient fetal blood redistribution associated with maternal supine position
- Original articles
- Underlying causes of neonatal deaths in term singleton pregnancies: home births versus hospital births in the United States
- Fourfold increase in prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus after adoption of the new International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria
- Hematological changes in severe early onset growth-restricted fetuses with absent and reversed end-diastolic flow in the umbilical artery
- Breast milk feeding in infants with inherited metabolic disorders other than phenylketonuria – a 10-year single-center experience
- Clinical significance of a false positive glucose challenge test in patients with a high body mass index
- Obituary
- Obituary – Edward Ogata (1945–2017)
- Congress Calendar
- Congress Calendar
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Intrapartum care
- Recommendation and Guidelines for Perinatal Practice
- Delivery modes in case of fetal malformations
- Review article
- Obstetric analgesia – update 2016
- Highlight articles
- Risk factors and outcomes in “well-selected” vaginal breech deliveries: a retrospective observational study
- Induction of labor in breech presentation at term: a retrospective cohort study
- Evaluating fetal head dimension changes during labor using open magnetic resonance imaging
- Risk factors of uterine rupture with a special interest to uterine fundal pressure
- Diagnostic accuracy of fetal scalp lactate for intrapartum acidosis compared with scalp pH
- Reference values for Lactate Pro 2™ in fetal blood sampling during labor: a cross-sectional study
- Linear and non-linear analysis of uterine contraction signals obtained with tocodynamometry in prediction of operative vaginal delivery
- Evaluation of simparteam – a needs-orientated team training format for obstetrics and neonatology
- Transient fetal blood redistribution associated with maternal supine position
- Original articles
- Underlying causes of neonatal deaths in term singleton pregnancies: home births versus hospital births in the United States
- Fourfold increase in prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus after adoption of the new International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria
- Hematological changes in severe early onset growth-restricted fetuses with absent and reversed end-diastolic flow in the umbilical artery
- Breast milk feeding in infants with inherited metabolic disorders other than phenylketonuria – a 10-year single-center experience
- Clinical significance of a false positive glucose challenge test in patients with a high body mass index
- Obituary
- Obituary – Edward Ogata (1945–2017)
- Congress Calendar
- Congress Calendar