Uterine artery Doppler.. Any ideas??

[timewilltel]

So I went for my 20 week scan yesterday and was told everything is normal but at the end she said briefly I would need further scans because of my Doppler uterine artery measurements?? She gave me an info leaflet and told me not to google stuff or to worry it's just something to do with baby's growth and just know that's it's not serious that they just need to measure the baby again to see if it's growing ok. Obviously I went away panicking and of course I googled but it just seems so complicated to understand.. it also seems very uncommon. I probably won't get replies but does anyone know or has anyone had this same thing happen and can give me a clearer explanation of this please. I will probably end up ringing my midwife just to clarify but just wanted to know if anyone had any info on this first..I inserted a pic of what she wrote in my notes about it highlighted underlined in yellow

Yes I had this, and was also worried and googling. My consultant said it just means you are at an increased chance of pre eclampsia and growth restriction, but still more than likely that you WONT get these issues. He also said a lot of uneccessary worry has been caused by these Dopplers and just puts us in a higher risk group, doesn’t mean anything bad will happen. And even if it did, they can spot it and treat it with the extra checks. FWIW I’m 30 weeks now and my growth is looking on track and the umbilical artery dopplers are all fine, which think is important. I’m taking my blood pressure regularly at home as a precaution. Hope that helps,

PS I started a thread on it as well and got useful replies if you can search for it 😊

@Mumtotwofurbabies I don't quite think you understand how relieved and grateful I am reading your message. I genuinely didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about because it just seems so rare and yes I did try doing the dreaded Google search and it just seems to be so negative and very complex to understand.. Thank you so so much for letting me know and yes I will defo try and search for your thread now! Thank you again xxx

That’s ok, I was the same after with the googling. I’m quite an anxious person anyway but feel a bit calmer about it now 🙈

@Mumtotwofurbabies just found your post and so glad to hear everything worked out ok for you and others which makes me feel a lot better! Thank you! X

@Mumtotwofurbabies

That’s ok, I was the same after with the googling. I’m quite an anxious person anyway but feel a bit calmer about it now 🙈

Anxiety.. take a look at my post from a couple months ago so yep on on that anxiety boat too...

Yep, I can relate to that post! This is my second as well and have been worrying about everything! I don’t think they worry will stop until this baby is in my arms 🙈. I wasn’t this worried with my first, just breezed through it

I have to have this done at 22 weeks due to previous pre eclampsia and baby that stopped growing at 32 weeks in my last pregnancy.
They basically look at the blood flow through the placenta to the baby to see if there is any potential issue that could arise before you get another scan 10 weeks later at 32 weeks.
They should then offer weekly bp and urine tests to monitor for possible pre eclampsia (PET) from around 30 weeks and the 32 and 36 week scan should check the growth of baby.
Try not to panic. I'd call your midwife to make them aware of it so you can get extra monitoring in place.

I had this issue. My baby was IUGR so I had a lot of additional monitoring and an early delivery at 34 weeks as a result. It was enormously stressful but the baby was fine, just small. She was better out than in as she wasn't getting what she needed from me. It was good that it was picked up. I was told that often the issue resolves itself. Mine didn't but nonetheless all was ok.

@Mumtotwofurbabies I'm pretty sure when they're in our arms we will continue to worry.. basically for the rest of their lives lol welcome to mum life! 😀

@abbs1

I have to have this done at 22 weeks due to previous pre eclampsia and baby that stopped growing at 32 weeks in my last pregnancy. They basically look at the blood flow through the placenta to the baby to see if there is any potential issue that could arise before you get another scan 10 weeks later at 32 weeks. They should then offer weekly bp and urine tests to monitor for possible pre eclampsia (PET) from around 30 weeks and the 32 and 36 week scan should check the growth of baby. Try not to panic. I'd call your midwife to make them aware of it so you can get extra monitoring in place.

@abbs1 yeah they did tell me to book an extra appointment with my midwife at 24 weeks which is in 4 weeks time so I've done that it's like you said to monitor my bp and other routine checks to make sure everything is ok! X

@eurochick I'm so glad it all worked out for you in the end and baby was ok. So is there absolutely nothing that could have been done to help or prevent it from happening? They just had to deliver early?

Hi OP, I had high uterine artery PI and RI in my second pregnancy. My left artery number was a LOT higher than either of yours at 1.85 and I was very worried but everything turned out completely fine. (Baby was born late but healthy and a perfectly normal size!) I read a lot of the journal articles that the guidelines are based on because I couldn’t find a doctor who would speak to me like an adult about it and your numbers are actually lower than those of the women included in the high UtA PI risk groups in the medical studies. Most of these have cut offs ranging between 1.4 (mean or either artery) and 1.6 as the bottom end of the risk group. So in other words the medical literature on this issue would place you in the normal or low risk category meaning that the chances of complications for you from this are probably pretty low. The additional monitoring is very reassuring to have, and it’s all to the good that the NHS errs on the side of caution, but you’re really at the very low end of this risk category. Please try to put it out of your mind and enjoy your pregnancy!!!

Ps at some trusts they don’t measure your uterine artery PI again at future appointments. From what I read, the prognosis is better if your numbers normalise by 24-26 weeks. If you do find this weighing on your mind you could book a private scan at around 24 weeks to see if the PI is falling as expected. I did this and although late normalisation doesn’t eliminate the risk it does reduce it, and knowing that even my scary artery had normalised helped me to relax.

@RoseAndGeranium you know reading your message made me tear up! Don't know whether it's the hormones or just me being a very emotional person but you have actually made me feel SO MUCH BETTER! Thank you so much for the information you have given it's so much more clearer than what I've read online which is so confusing! I am so glad I posted this as I was genuinely debating whether or not to as I really didn't think anyone had any info or knew anything about it but it's been absolutely fantastic and I just feel so emotional reading these messages from all you mama's. I think I can finally just enjoy my pregnancy for the first time since I found out I was pregnant. Yesterday I found out I was having a girl too which I'm absolutely ecstatic about because I've already got a boy but because of this issue I haven't even been fully happy 😞 I mean I know anything can still happen but I'm gonna remain positive and also I know that it can likely be resolved and it won't be life threatening for me or baby which I was really worried about. That's the main thing! Again, thank you! Xx

No problem at all. The info out there on this is pretty poor and the consultants don’t explain things clearly in my experience. I was lucky to be able to get hold of relevant medical literature and I promised myself I’d pass on the information to anyone that needed it. FYI, now that I know you’ve already had a successful pregnancy I can add that the risk of IUGR and pre eclampsia are substantially lower for subsequent pregnancies where the first has been uneventful than they are for first time mothers. Generally speaking, having raised uterine artery Doppler readings at 20 weeks is thought to increase your risk by 5 times. Your background risk as a second time mother is around 1-2%, so with raised readings (even properly raised, like mine) your adjusted risk only goes up to around 5-10% which is roughly the same as the background risk for a first time mum. In other words, your risk with the raised readings for this pregnancy is no higher than your risk without them during pregnancy no. 1. Hope that makes sense!
Congratulations on your pregnancy and your little girl. X

@roseandgeranium that makes me feel 100 times better as well. I saw my consultant on Tuesday and left feeling very anxious until i spoke with my midwife who explained everything which I posted below.
I had IUGR and PET and was first time mum of a little boy and now 19 weeks with a little girl. I feel a lot better knowing the stats and feel I can relax a bit more.

@RoseAndGeranium I can't tell you how helpful and informative your message was. I've re read it like 5 times over just to let the info sink into my head and make myself feel more better! Do you by any chance work in the medical field because it sounds like you do and if you don't then I really believe you should do something along them lines because your knowledge, advice and the way you give information is so clear and understanding especially for someone like me who just does not have a clue about anything like this! I've basically been so anxious this whole pregnancy, I'm just worried about something going wrong especially at my 20 week scan yesterday I was almost having a panic attack waiting in the waiting room and when I heard that everything was ok re baby's vital organs and was measuring ok I was so relieved but then as I was putting on my coat to leave she said there is one thing I just need to book you in for extra scans and please please don't worry it's not serious we just need to keep an eye on the growth baby and then she gave me a leaflet about what it was (uterine artery Doppler) she then begged for me not to go onto google because she didn't want me to read any negative stories as I told her I already did before this scan and read so many negative stories about scans going wrong which probably made me more anxious. Yeah so obviously I did go onto google when I got home and like I said I didn't have a clue what it was on about so then I decided to post on here and thank God I did because now I can have a more calm and relaxed pregnancy without worrying so much as I did and all because of wonderful people like yourself! Xx

I had this during my pregnancy earlier this year. Everything was fine at 20 weeks but I had to go for a growth scan around 34 weeks (if I remember correctly) because my fundal height hadn’t grown. Growth of baby was fine but they picked up a high uterine Doppler reading. I then had to have scans twice a week to monitor this. It stayed high for the next couple of scans but then came down again. My subsequent growth scans showed no issues with growing. The reading came down eventually. If it didn’t, I would have been offered an induction at 37 weeks. They offered me an induction at 40 weeks as a precaution which I took. Baby was a healthy 7lb9oz.

@timewilltel I was told I would have been put on aspirin if I wasn't already on it (I was as it was standard at my ivf clinic). But other than that it was just monitoring.

I had the exact same issue at 20 weeks and was terrified. Google is not your friend. I had my 28 week scan last week and he’s measuring bang on the 50th percentile and my uterine artery levels had gone right down. They scan again at 32 and 36 weeks to ensure things still progress ok because the sonographer told me that the uterine artery can fluctuate. Try not to worry though because it’s very possible that things will rectify themselves at your next scan. Good luck :)

@Nat4392 so glad to hear that baby turned out heathy and ok! X

@Jenhen89 oh that really does give me a lot of hope! Thank you x

Hi all, I've just had this as well at my 20th week scan although my value is higher at 1.76 and only left artery. Baby's growth seems to be fine (actually on the bigger side) and my consultant said to try and not worry about it, as she's seen higher values that turned out ok. She said I could take aspirin, but she made it clear that the benefit might not be there because it's too late in the pregnancy for it to have an actual effect (apparently you have to start it in first trimester).
@RoseAndGeranium and @Nat4392 I wanted to ask you, did you start taking aspirin after your high readings or did the value come down by itself? My stomach cannot handle aspirin due to gastritis, so I'd have to take it with stomach protection pills, which I am not that keen on, but obviously I'll do if the baby can benefit from the aspirin. Thanks so much!

Hi all, can I ask how this turned out for you? I’ve just been diagnosed with high readings at 20 weeks (1.8-1.9!!) after a hard pregnancy first time round with a supposedly massive baby () was really hoping for an easier ride this time, just feeling really scared