An Assessment of Fetal Cerebral and Hepatic Perfusion in Normal Pregnancy and Pre-Eclampsia Using Three-Dimensional Ultrasound

BACKGROUND Pre-eclampsia and placental causes of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are part of the same spectrum of disorders. In IUGR, there is preferential shunting of blood to the fetal brain at the expense of other organs. We wanted to demonstrate that this also occurs in pre-eclampsia using three dimensional (3D) ultrasound. The 3D indices of perfusion are: flow index (FI), vascular index (VI) and vascularisation flow index (VFI) which reflect tissue vascularity and flow intensity. METHODS Fourteen normal pregnant women and 14 with diagnosed pre-eclampsia were recruited. Scanning was conducted by 2 observers using a Voluson E8 machine. Perfusion was measured at a pre-defined position within the fetal brain and fetal liver. The power Doppler signals were quantified using the 'histogram facility' to generate 3 indices of vascularity: FI, VI and VFI. The unpaired t-test was used to compare differences between groups. The hypothesis was that fetal brain FI, VI and VFI would be similar between women with normal pregnancy and women with pre-eclampsia, but measurements would be reduced in the fetal liver in women with pre-eclampsia. RESULTS Maternal characteristics of age, body mass index and gestation were not different between groups. The depth of insonnation did not differ between groups. Fetal cerebral perfusion was not different between women with a normal pregnancy compared to women with pre-eclampsia. The mean (SD) for FI was 22.4 (5.7) vs. 21.1 (4.3) respectively (p=0.49). For VI, the mean (SD) was as 64.7 (40.4) vs. 79.1 (27.4) respectively (p=0.28). For VFI, the mean (SD) was 14.8 (10.3) vs. 16.1 (5.5) respectively (p = 0.66). Fetal hepatic perfusion was not different between women with a normal pregnancy compared to women with pre-eclampsia. The mean (SD) for FI was 34.4 (19.9) vs. 27.8 (11.0) respectively (p = 0.28). For VI, mean (SD) was 67.6 (36.0) vs. 87.3 (25.8) respectively (p=0.11). For VFI, the mean (SD) was 19.6 (11.6) vs. 23.1 (10.6) respectively (p=0.42). CONCLUSION Using 3D ultrasound, we were not able to demonstrate preferential shunting of blood to the fetal brain at the expense of the fetal liver. Due to the high variability of our data, no definite conclusions can be derived from this work. A larger study may be required.