as fetal compensation against hypoxemia progresses, the afterload on the heart and peripheral vascular resistance increases. eventually, the right heart fails, which is transmitted to the fetal venous system, causing decreased flow during late diastole or atrial contraction and increased resistance in the ductus venosus and inferior vena cava. the ductus has forward flow during atrial contracti...

Perinatal asphyxia (derived from Greek word a-sphyxos meaning born without an evident pulse) is one of the most important causes of fetal distress [1].Perinatal asphyxia remains a significant cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality the world over, and is known to complicate upto 5 – 10% of all deliveries[2]. A wide variety of maternal, fetal and labor conditions give rise to perinatal asphyx...

OBJECTIVE Vitamin D deficiency causes not only skeletal problems but also muscle weakness, including heart muscle. If the fetal heart is also affected, it might be more susceptible to fetal distress and birth asphyxia. In this pilot study, we hypothesised that low maternal vitamin D levels are over-represented in pregnancies with fetal distress/birth asphyxia. DESIGN AND SETTING A population-...

OBJECTIVE To describe possible causes of delivery-related severe asphyxia due to malpractice. DESIGN AND SETTING A nationwide descriptive study in Sweden. POPULATION All women asking for financial compensation because of suspected medical malpractice in connection with childbirth during 1990-2005. METHOD We included infants with a gestational age of >or=33 completed gestational weeks, a p...

OBJECTIVE To determine risk factors for perinatal asphyxia. DESIGN Cohort study. SETTING Teaching hospital. METHODS All consecutive hospital births were evaluated during the study period. Asphyxia was defined on intrapartum and neonatal resuscitation criteria. Maternal, intrapartum and neonatal variables were recorded in all births. Data was analyzed after stratifying for live and stillbi...

Recordings of fetal heart rate provide the clinician with the only non-invasive tool to continuously monitor fetal wellbeing during labour. By far, the most debated component of fetal heart rate monitoring during labour is the significance of fetal heart rate decelerations, which almost invariably occur in association with uterine contractions. Over the years, proposed possible triggers for the...

Umbilical cord blood gas and acid-base assessment are themost objective determinations of the fetal metabolic condition at the momentof birth. Moderate and severe newborn encephalopathy, respiratory compli-cations, and composite complication scores increase with an umbilicalarterial base deficit of 12–16 mmol/L. Moderate or severe newborn compli-cations occur in 10% of neona...

Objective: Asphyxia  is  a  major  cause  of  acute  mortality  and  chronic  neurologic  disability  in  neonates. We sought to  define  the  predictive  values  of  serum  concentrations  of  interleukin-1β  in  newborns  with perinatal asphyxia to see if there is a relation between interleukin-1β (IL-1β) levels to the short term neurological deficit.  Methods: This was a prospective (case-co...

Asphyxia around the time of preterm birth is associated with neurodevelopmental disability. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that blockade of connexin hemichannels would improve recovery of brain activity and reduce cell loss after asphyxia in preterm fetal sheep. Asphyxia was induced by 25 min of complete umbilical cord occlusion in preterm fetal sheep (103-104 d gestational age). Conne...

Galinsky R, Lear CA, Yamaguchi K, Wassink G, Westgate JA, Bennet L, Gunn AJ. Cholinergic and -adrenergic control of cardiovascular reflex responses to brief repeated asphyxia in termequivalent fetal sheep. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 311: R949–R956, 2016. First published September 16, 2016; doi:10.1152/ ajpregu.00340.2016.—The role of cholinergic and -adrenergic activity in mediating...