Deceleration area and fetal acidemia

Aims: To compare the predictive ability for neonatal acidemia of individual components of intrapartum cardiotocography (CTG) described by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) system and deceleration area. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Spanish tertiary obstetrical hospital. Population: CTG patterns of 102 acidemic fetus (umbilical arterial cord gas pH =7.10, base deficit (BD>48) and 102 nonacidemic controls (umbilical arterial cord gas pH>7.10). Methods: Two reviewers blind to clinical and outcome data analyzed the last thirty minutes before delivery of 204 fetal heart rate (FHR) tracings, extracting those features defined by NICHD and certain measures of FHR decelerations, including deceleration area, not considered by this system. Outcome measures: The primary outcome was the predictive ability of NICHD features and non-NICHD deceleration measures for fetal acidemia. The secondary outcome was the impact of deceleration area in the last 30 min of labor on gasometry components (pH, BD and lactate). Results: Minimal variability (area under the curve (AUC) 0.74), total number of late (AUC: 0.75) and prolonged decelerations (0.77) were the three NICHD features with the greatest predictive ability for fetal acidemia in the last thirty minutes of labor. Total deceleration area demonstrated the highest discrimination power (AUC: 0.83) of all the analyzed elements. For each cm2 the area increases in the last 30 min of labor, pH decreases 0.08 units, BD increases 0.272 mEq/L and lactate 0.183 mEq/L. Conclusions: Total deceleration area showed the greatest predictive ability for fetal acidemia and its measure could help to estimate intrapartum fetal acid-base status

Influence of cerebral vasodilation on blood reelin levels in growth restricted fetuses

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is one of the most important obstetric pathologies. It is frequently caused by placental insufficiency. Previous studies have shown a relationship between FGR and impaired new-born neurodevelopment, although the molecular mechanisms involved in this association have not yet been completely clarified. Reelin is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein involved in development of neocortex, hippocampus, cerebellum and spinal cord. Reelin has been demonstrated to play a key role in regulating perinatal neurodevelopment and to contribute to the emergence and development of various psychiatric pathologies, and its levels are highly influenced by pathological conditions of hypoxia. The purpose of this article is to study whether reelin levels in new-borns vary as a function of severity of fetal growth restriction by gestational age and sex. We sub-grouped fetuses in: normal weight group (Group 1, n = 17), FGR group with normal umbilical artery Doppler and cerebral redistribution at middle cerebral artery Doppler (Group 2, n = 9), and FGR with abnormal umbilical artery Doppler (Group 3, n = 8). Our results show a significant association of elevated Reelin levels in FGR fetuses with cerebral blood redistribution compared to the normal weight group and the FGR with abnormal umbilical artery group. Future research should focus on further expanding the knowledge of the relationship of reelin and its regulated products with neurodevelopment impairment in new-borns with FGR and should include larger and more homogeneous samples and the combined use of different in vivo techniques in neonates with impaired growth during their different adaptive phases. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland