Assessment of cerebral circulation in normal fetuses by three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography

Hérbene José Figuinha Milani, Enoch Quinderé De Sá Barreto, Edward Araujo Júnior*, Karina Krajden Haratz, Liliam Cristine Rolo, Luciano Marcondes Mac Hado Nardozza, Antonio Fernandes Moron

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To assess the three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography (3D power Doppler) vascular indices in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), anterior cerebral artery (ACA) and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) territories. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 111 normal pregnancies between 26 and 34 weeks. The MCA, ACA and PCA territories closest to the transducer were scanned and volumes were calculated by using the VOCAL (Virtual Organ Computer-aided Analysis) program. The 3D power Doppler indices - vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization-flow index (VFI) were calculated. Scatter graphs, Pearson correlation coefficients (r) and linear regression models were used. Results: Only the FI-MCA (r = 0.38 and p < 0.001), VFI-MCA (r = 0.23 and p = 0.016) and FI-PCA (r = 0.191 and p = 0.040) had a low correlation with gestational age. The other 3D power Doppler indices VI-MCA (r = 0.153 and p = 0.150), VI-ACA (r = 0.105 and p = 0.271), FI-ACA (r = 0.154 and p = 0.106), VFI-ACA (r = 0.134 and p = 0.161), VI-PCA (r = 0.105 and p = 0.270) and VFI-PCA (r = 0.126 and p = 0.180) showed no statistically significant correlation with gestational. Conclusion: It was observed a low correlation between gestational age and the FI-MCA, VFI-MCA and FI-PCA.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)514-521
Number of pages8
JournalEuropean Journal of Radiology
Volume81
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cerebral circulation
  • Fetus
  • Power Doppler
  • Three-dimensional ultrasound

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