A real time sector scanner with a pulsed Doppler transducer was used to study and c )mpare the blood flow in the fetal descending thoracic aorta in 92 normal pregnancies aitd 55 cases of fetal growth retardation with 157 and 74 examinations, respectively. All p egnancies were in the third trimester. Blood flow increased with gestational age in b,)th groups. End diastolic velocity, time averaged mean blood velocity, and blood flow per unit of fetal weight showed no clear pattern of changes with gestational age in both groups. In growth retarded pregnancies, there were significant reductions in end diastoli , velocity and time averaged mean blood velocity compared to those in normal pregi ancies(p< 0.05).
But blood flow per unit of fetal weight was not significantly different between two groups. In growthretarded pregnancies with fetal distress, decreases in end diastolic v( locity and time averaged mean blood velocity were much more marked than those of g- )up without fetal distress(p< 0.05). The result of this study showed strong associati( n between fetal growth retardation and impaired fetal blood flow.
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