Clinical significance of Doppler flow waveform of ductus venosus in screening for fetal cardiac malformation

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of Doppler flow waveform of ductus venosus (DV) in screening of fetal cardiac malformation.Methods Color Doppler ultrasonography was used to study DV flow in 240 normal fetuses and 20 fetuses with cardiac malformation that were screened out from the high-risk fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD).Results ① The normal Doppler flow waveform of the DV was a characteristic triphasic pattern with forward flow during cardiac cycle,reflecting ventricular systole (S),ventricular diastole (D) and atrial systole (A).② In the group of 20 fetuses with cardiac malformation,eight had reverse flow and nine had decreased or absent flow during atrial contraction,the indices of the DV in fetuses with cardiac malformation were higher than those in gestational age-matched normal fetuses ( P 0.05 ).Conclusions Doppler ultrasonographic detection of DV blood flow will be useful as a new prospective technique in screening of fetal cardiac malformation.