Umbilical, Cerebral, and Renal Circulations in Growth-Retarded and Hypoxic Fetuses

Until now most clinical applications of the fetal Doppler method have concerned the investigation of the placental and cerebral hemodynamics. The amplitude of the end-diastolic flow in the fetal vessels is directly related to the vascular resistance in the area supplied by these vessels. In order to quantify the vascular resistance, various indices which measure the proportion of systolic flow within the total forward flow during one cardiac cycle have been proposed. (Adamson et al. 1990; Gosling and King 1975; Maulik et al. 1989; Pourcelot 1974; Stuart et al. 1980).