Normal variants of ductus venosus spectral Doppler flow patterns in normal pregnancies

Objectives: Ductus venosus (DV) Doppler examinations in pregnancy have a widespread use for several important indications and play a crucial role in order to determine the fetal well-being. DV is usually visualized by the color Doppler mapping. We observed the instantaneous spectral flow type changes in pulsed Doppler examinations in spite of performing with the correct technique published by several authors. The variability of the pattern makes the sonographer/physician to be unsure for the correct placements of the sample gate despite fulfilling the all the criteria required for the vessel sampling. It is aimed in the study to define variations of the normal DV spectral flow types in the duration of the pulsed Doppler examinations instead of in a single cardiac cycle in normal pregnancies.Methods: This prospective study was conducted between January 2016 and February 2017. Wide-band Doppler technique was used for color mapping of the DV. Normal spectral Doppler waveforms in pregnancies are classified as types. When DV spectral flow pattern was not in the standard type, the spectral flow patterns were obtained from not only the umbilical artery and/or middle cerebral artery. Maximum and minimum blood flow velocities in the umbilical vein are measured. All Doppler examinations are performed by a single experienced specialist (CG), who had been certificated for DV flow and Doppler examinations by the Fetal Medicine Foundation.Results: A total of seven types of flow patterns were recorded during the study period and DV flow patterns were divided into two main categories as classic flow pattern and the other patterns. The classic pattern was observed in 160 (99.4%) cases in the first trimester, 495 (94.1%) cases in the second trimester and 206 (60.8%) cases in the third trimester.Conclusions: We think that the fetal circulation is complicated more than estimated. There might be some endocrine agents released in the instantaneous physiologic reactions and changing the venous return abruptly or due to decreasing of the cardiac output directed to the placenta after 34 weeks influence the volume of the circulating blood in the fetus and so thereby the flow velocities instantaneously. The spectral waveform recognition approach is not reliable to identify if the DV spectral Doppler pattern is not the classic (standard) type and the DV should be visualized by wide-band color Doppler techniques particularly in the third trimester for the pulsed Doppler examinations. Studies are needed to evaluate the normal spectral variants of the flows correlated with the physiological compensatory mechanisms.