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Recording maternal vaginal apex pulse
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Medical School, Denver.
A photoelectric plethysmographic probe, which emits and receives a low-voltage infrared light was placed in the vaginal apex of 122 high-risk pregnant women. The normal pulse form of the upper vagina does not have a diastolic notch. A study was undertaken to determine whether the vaginal apex pulse recording equals the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the uterine artery Doppler velocimetry, and whether abnormal uterine artery wave forms are fixed. The vaginal apex recordings had greater sensitivity to abnormal outcome than did the uterine artery Doppler technique. The vaginal apex pulse height decreased significantly in a majority of the women undergoing elective cesarean section and during uterine contractions. In patients with abnormal wave forms (diastolic notches) and treated with either terbutaline sulfate or magnesium sulfate, the diastolic notch disappeared in eight out of 14 cases.
A photoelectric plethysmographic probe, which emits and receives a low-voltage infrared light was placed in the vaginal apex of 122 high-risk pregnant women. The normal pulse form of the upper vagina does not have a diastolic notch. A study was undertaken to determine whether the vaginal apex pulse recording equals the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the uterine artery Doppler velocimetry, and whether abnormal uterine artery wave forms are fixed. The vaginal apex recordings had greater sensitivity to abnormal outcome than did the uterine artery Doppler technique. The vaginal apex pulse height decreased significantly in a majority of the women undergoing elective cesarean section and during uterine contractions. In patients with abnormal wave forms (diastolic notches) and treated with either terbutaline sulfate or magnesium sulfate, the diastolic notch disappeared in eight out of 14 cases.