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Updated: Jul 1, 2026
Non-invasive Assessment of Microvascular and Endothelial Function
Published on: January 29, 2013
Assessment of endothelial function in normal twin pregnancy
M D Savvidou1, A E Donald, K H Nicolaides
1Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital, London, UK.
Objective:
To assess the maternal endothelial function in normal twin pregnancy.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Subjects:
Endothelial function was investigated in 74 women with normal twin pregnancy at 11-30 weeks of gestation and the results were compared to previous reported findings in 98 women with normal singleton pregnancy and 19 non-pregnant controls.
Methods:
Endothelial function was assessed by measuring the changes of the brachial artery diameter in response to reactive hyperemia (flow-mediated dilatation) using external high resolution ultrasound.
Results:
Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery in both twin and singleton pregnancies was significantly higher than in non-pregnant women (P = 0.002 and P = 0.02, respectively). However, there was no significant difference in flow-mediated dilatation between women with twin and singleton pregnancy (9.61 +/- 4.36 vs. 8.84 +/- 3.18, P = 0.38). Resting vessel size, baseline flow and reactive hyperemia did not change significantly with gestation in twin pregnancy and were similar to values in singleton pregnancies and controls.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicate that although in pregnancy endothelial function is enhanced, this change may not be affected by the number of fetoplacental units present.
