UMBILICAL ARTERY DOPPLER FLOW-VELOCITY WAVE-FORMS IN RHESUS-ISOIMMUNIZED FETUSES BEFORE AND AFTER FETAL BLOOD-SAMPLING OR TRANSFUSION

Pulsed-Doppler examinations of blood-flow velocities in the umbilical artery were carried out before and after 15 diagnostic cordocenteses a nd 34 fetal blood transfusions into the umbilical vein. There were dec reases in the systolic/diastolic ratio (A/B) (p < 0.01), the pulsatili ty index (PI) (p < 0.05), and the resistance index (RI) (p < 0.01) aft er cordocentesis but not after fetal blood transfusion. There were no correlations between the initial hematocrit and the umbilical artery D oppler indices in the sample nor in the fetal blood sampling group. In the fetal blood transfusion group, on the other hand, there was a neg ative correlation between the initial hematocrit and A/B (r = - 0.44; p < 0.01) and the RI (r = - 0.35; p < 0.05). The umbilical artery Dopp ler flow-velocity indices did not predict the fetal hematocrit. C 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.