Cerebral venous blood flow in growth restricted fetuses with an abnormal blood flow in the umbilical artery before 32 weeks of gestation.

Objective: To evaluate the brain venous circulation in fetuses with severe intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) before 32 weeks of gestation.

Study Design: Fifty fetuses with severe IUGR diagnosed between 27 and 32 weeks of gestation and 50 appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA) fetuses matched by gestational age were evaluated. IUGR fetuses were classified according to their hemodynamic deterioration pattern in relation to the Doppler examination of the umbilical artery (UA), middle cerebral artery (MCA) and ductus venosus (DV). The fetal venous brain blood flow was evaluated in the vein of Galen (VG), superior sagittal (SS), straight and transverse venous sinuses.

Results: Only the transverse sinus (TS) showed a significant reduction in the pulsatility index (PI) values in IUGR fetuses. All other veins showed similar PI values between IUGR and AGA fetuses. All cerebral veins of IUGR fetuses showed significantly increased maximum and mean velocities. All these findings did not change in relation to the hemodynamic IUGR deterioration. In nearly all normal and all IUGR fetuses, a pulsatile blood flow pattern was observed in the straight and transverse sinuses, whereas an increased pulsatile pattern in the VG and in the SS was noted in IUGR fetuses.

Conclusion: Brain venous blood flow in IUGR fetuses shows an increment in the maximum and mean velocities of all veins and a reduction in the PI in the transverse sinus.