Correlation between the fetal blood flow spectrum of pregnant women with preeclampsia and brain development of premature infants / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the correlation of fetal umbilical artery (UA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood flow spectrum of pregnant women with preeclampsia (PE) and neonatal brain fractional anisotropy (FA). Methods: Totally 43 premature infants delivered by pregnant women with PE were selected as observation group, while 43 premature infants with matched gestational age but no high-risk perinatal factors were taken as control group. Fetal blood flow spectrum parameters, including peak systolic velocity/end diastolic velocity (S/D) and pulse index (PI) of UA (UA-S/D, UA-PI), MCA-S/D, MCA-PI, and the ratio of UA-S/D to MCA-S/D ([UA/MCA]-S/D) were retrospectively analyzed. The FA value of different parts of the brain in neonatal period were compared, and the correlation of blood flow spectrum parameters and FA value were analyzed. Results: The fetal UA-S/D, UA-PI and (UA/MCA)-S/D in observation group were higher, while MCA-PI and MCA-S/D in observation group were lower than those in control group (all P<0.001). FA values of posterior limb of internal capsule, thalamus, caudate nucleus, white matter of frontal lobe, white matter of parietal lobe, cerebral peduncle and cerebellum were lower in observation group (all P<0.05). In observation group, FA mean was negatively correlated with UA-S/D and UA-PI (r=-0.668,-0.957; P=0.025, 0.002). Among all 86 premature infants, the FA value of posterior limb of internal capsule was negatively correlated with UA-PI (r=-0.220, P=0.021) and positively correlated with MCA-S/D (r=0.462, P<0.001), FA mean was negatively correlated with UA-PI (r=-0.341, P<0.001) and positively correlated with MCA-PI (r=0.206, P=0.049). Conclusion: The blood flow spectrum parameters of fetal UA combined with MCA have certain correlation with FA, which can be used to evaluate the brain development of premature infants delivered by pregnant women with PE.