Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Human Fetal Blood Flow Quantification with Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Motion Compensation
Published on: January 7, 2021
Serial hemodynamic measurement in normal pregnancy, preeclampsia, and intrauterine growth restriction
Saskia Rang1, Gert A van Montfrans, Hans Wolf
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Objective:
The study hypothesis was that hemodynamic measurements in conjunction with uterine artery Doppler could enable selection of women at risk for the development of preeclampsia or fetal growth restriction.
Study Design:
Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate (RR), cardiac output (CO), total peripheral resistance (TPR), phase difference of SBP and RR interval were measured serially before, during, and after pregnancy. At 20 weeks, uterine artery Doppler measurement was performed. Outcome was classified as preeclampsia (PE) or gestational hypertension (GH) with or without fetal growth restriction (FGR), FGR without PE or GH, and normal pregnancy (NP). Differences between these groups were assessed by 1-way analysis of variance and discriminant analysis.
Results:
In early pregnancy, in comparison with NP (n = 28), PE/GH had a higher SBP and phase difference of SBP-RR interval. CO was higher in PE/GH without FGR (n = 5) but not PE/GH with FGR (n = 5). FGR, either with or without PE/GH (n = 4), was associated with higher TPR. Conjunction with uterine Doppler allowed selection of 93% of women with an abnormal outcome with a specificity of 100%.
Conclusion:
The study supports our hypothesis that in early pregnancy, hemodynamic parameters differ from normal in women predisposed to develop preeclampsia or fetal growth restriction.
