Heart Ultrasound May Predict Miscarriage
Heart Ultrasound May Predict Miscarriage
New Ultrasound Technology IDs a Fetal Heart Defect That Might Trigger Early Miscarriage
"We have known for some time that a slow heart beat was a bad sign, but we didn't know why," Julia Fielding, MD, associate professor of radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill tells WebMD. "This is new since Doppler hasn't been used this way." Fielding was not involved in the study.
But, "the problem is that this is one study, from one investigator, at one center. It needs to be validated by probably two more studies," she says. The bottom line, is that "this is a great use of technology," but we cannot use this finding in practice at this point, she said.
Asked by WebMD if he would recommend early Doppler ultrasound fetal assessment for all pregnant women, Birnholz replied, "I'm not making any statement about recommendations. I'm just presenting these findings."
But he did say that based on his findings, increasing the oxygen supply to the mother, which he says is simple might improve the heart function in the fetus. "But this is only speculation and would need to be tested in a large clinical study," he tells WebMD.
Heart Ultrasound May Predict Miscarriage
New Ultrasound Technology IDs a Fetal Heart Defect That Might Trigger Early Miscarriage
"We have known for some time that a slow heart beat was a bad sign, but we didn't know why," Julia Fielding, MD, associate professor of radiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill tells WebMD. "This is new since Doppler hasn't been used this way." Fielding was not involved in the study.
But, "the problem is that this is one study, from one investigator, at one center. It needs to be validated by probably two more studies," she says. The bottom line, is that "this is a great use of technology," but we cannot use this finding in practice at this point, she said.
Asked by WebMD if he would recommend early Doppler ultrasound fetal assessment for all pregnant women, Birnholz replied, "I'm not making any statement about recommendations. I'm just presenting these findings."
But he did say that based on his findings, increasing the oxygen supply to the mother, which he says is simple might improve the heart function in the fetus. "But this is only speculation and would need to be tested in a large clinical study," he tells WebMD.