BACKGROUND Diagnostic ultrasound is a sophisticated electronic technology, which utilises pulses of high-frequency sound to produce an image. Diagnostic ultrasound examination may be employed in a variety of specific circumstances during pregnancy such as after clinical complications, or where there are concerns about fetal growth. Because adverse outcomes may also occur in pregnancies without ...

Background: Current prenatal diagnosis requires invasive testing which carries a 1-4% procedure-related-risk of miscarriage; hence, non-invasive techniques are desired. The recent demonstration of cell-free-fetal-DNA enriched from maternal plasma has opened new possibilities for non-invasive-prenatal-diagnosis of not only genetic-disorders such as β-thalassaemia and haemophilia but also chromos...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the performance of first-trimester screening for aneuploidies by including assessment of the fetal nasal bone in the combined test of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness, fetal heart rate (FHR) and serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A). METHODS Screening by the combined test was pe...

introduction the umbilical cord anomalies directly effect on the life quality of the fetus. it can lead to fetal death or many problems during pregnancy and delivery. early detection of these abnormalities is of particular importance. case presentation we report a case of thin cord syndrome (tcs) in a 30-year-old pregnant woman with suprapubic pain. after termination of pregnancy, histopatholog...

Objective: We tested if fetal pulse oximetry in addition to electronic fetal monitoring (CTG) and scalp blood sampling improves the accuracy of fetal assessment and allows safe reduction of operative deliveries ( 50%) and scalp blood sampling ( 50%) performed because of nonreassuring fetal status. Study design: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 146 patients with term pregnancies in...

BACKGROUND: Very little is known about the perinatal genesis of circadian rhythmicity in the human fetus. Some researchers have found evidence of rhythmicity early on in fetal development, whereas others have observed a slow development of rhythmicity during several years after birth. METHOD: Rhythms of fetal heartbeat and locomotor activity were studied in women with physiological course of pr...

Our laboratory continues to be actively involved in the development of new biomarkers for prenatal diagnosis using maternal blood and amniotic fluid. We have also developed a mouse model that demonstrates that cell-free fetal (cff) DNA is detectable in the pregnant maternal mouse. In human maternal plasma and serum we have analyzed factors that are important in the clinical interpretation of cf...

BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with several positive effects for mother, fetus, and offspring. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive and surrogate marker to determine fetal overall health and the development of fetal autonomic nervous system. In addition, it has been shown to be significantly influenced by maternal behavior. However, t...

The aim of our study was to evaluate the thermal index (TI) and mechanical index (MI), during the assessment of the fetal heart at the time of first-trimester scan, with different ultrasound machines. This was part of an observational study conducted in patients undergoing routine first-trimester screening. Cases were examined with Voluson E8 or 730Pro scanners using 2-8 MHz transabdominal prob...