The mid-pregnancy ultrasound assessment - More detailed information.(cont.)

Finding suitable prophylactic therapies has proved more difficult than originally envisaged. There remains a nagging suspicion that aspirin, given in adequate amounts, can improve the outcome in certain high-risk pregnancies. Other regimens may also prove useful in this regard. For example, while glyceryl trinitrate, a nitric oxide donor, has a limited benefit as a single treatment, it may be of use in combination therapy. Meanwhile reports outlining the link between short cervical length and an increased risk of preterm delivery have been published. This opens a new debate as to whether screening for cervical length should be incorporated into the second trimester scan assessment.

Ultrasound in the management of high-risk pregnancies - More detailed information

Work undertaken in the nineties1, 2,3,4,9 have demonstrated the relationship between hypoxaemia/acidaemia and redistribution of the fetal arterial circulation. Abnormal venous waveforms (a reflection of cardiac dysfunction) have been strongly linked to the development of acidaemia and impending heart failure, the final sequence seen in the fetus compromised by chronic utero-placental insufficiency (figure 1).5,6,7,8.

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