Uterine artery - high PI resistance/bilateral notching

[LouiseofChalky]

Hi there

I would be grateful for any thoughts/experiences that you may be able to share.

I have recently been for my 20w scan and was told that I have bilateral notching and high PI resistance in both arteries flowing to the placenta. Other than this the sonographer seemed to suggest that baby was healthy and of a normal size but I will need to go for growth scans at 28, 32 and 36 weeks.

Apparently this notching can potentially increase the risk of preeclampsia and or having a baby with low birth weight.
I am a naturally anxious person and this news has worried me a little, not least because my Dr didn’t explain it all too well so I am relying on my own research!

I would be grateful if anyone could share their experiences if they’ve had something similar. I presume there’s nothing I can do to improve this naturally?

Many thanks in advance if you have any information that will help me better understand this.

What does high PI mean I had growth scan today and I have high pi is it something to worry about. Something about the blood flow from my placenta to umbilical cord is high

I realise this is quite an old thread , but just posting for those who , like me might be frantically googling after getting a high PI resistance reading (mine was in the top 95%) at a 20 week scan.

After the sonographer explained my high numbers at the end of the scan, she simply told us not to worry and not to google - baby looks fine and it just puts you at slightly higher risk for preeccampsia and restricted grown of baby. Obviously at the first opportunity we googled away, having not really been able to digest what we were told in the scan and needing more context and info. Needless to say google painted a pretty bleak picture and we were imagining lots of worst case scenarios.

Anyway, we booked a private scan , at The Birth Company for two weeks later, which we've just arrived back from. All the PI resistance readings are now within normal range, the baby has grown and they've said there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about.
We've a consultation with a doctor there tomorrow too to discuss further.

I just wanted to share this as I know how scary it can be to not know if something is wrong or not and to imagine the worst.

I would really recommend, if you're in a financial position to do so, to have a scan privately a few weeks later to save yourself weeks of stress and worry.

The NHS should revise how they share this information and provide much more in the way of data instead of just saying don't google - doesn't really demonstrate a clear understanding of how human beings work!!

@Circe22 Thankyou so much for your post on this. I had my 20 week scan yesterday and was diagnosed with high uterine artery resistance. As you've said I went away and googled after feeling like I had no clue what it was and have scared myself. I'm already on aspirin and have been since positive pregnancy test so I don't know why it would be high. I didn't realise it could change so that's good to know. I do have a private scan booked next week so after reading your post I hope perhaps there's a chance it could of returned to normal by then. Do you know if there's any factors that effect it? Or anything other than aspirin that can help? How many weeks pregnant are you currently? X

I don’t think I had the notching but I had high resistance in both arteries and had to have the same regular scans as you for the same reasons. Everything was absolutely fine, the resistance eventually went down, baby was perfect. I am an extremely anxious person so this was difficult for me, but just focus on the fact that they’re taking extra care and you’re getting the chance to see your baby more times than average.

Im sure everything will be ok. Good luck!

@Jenhen89 yep sounds like me too , I high in both arteries but I don’t think I had notching either.

@WillowTree0721 Yep I think in many cases it self corrects. I was told by the NHS when I asked for further info that you have a more than 70% chance of not developing pre eclampsia or having a small for gestational age baby either. So I’d try to put it out of your mind until the scan - chances are everything will be perfectly fine.

id read a bit about pregnancy yoga helping and did a bit of that during the 2 weeks between scans , and we also happened to have a holiday booked so just tried to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg drinks lots of water and do gentle exercise. I tried to treat it as a good excuse to take good care of myself after I got over the initial feeling of panic. But officially nope was told there is nothing to do lifestyle wise and didn’t take aspirin as it wasn’t mentioned.

Im 22 weeks and a few days now.