Understanding abnormal uterine artery Doppler waveforms: A novel computational model to explore potential causes within the utero-placental vasculature.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Uterine artery (UtA) Doppler indices are one of the most commonly employed screening tests for pre-eclampsia worldwide. Abnormal indices appear to result from increased uterine vascular resistance, but anatomical complexity and lack of appropriate animal models mean that little is known about the relative contribution of each of the components of the uterine vasculature to the overall UtA Doppler waveform. Previous computational models suggested that trophoblast-mediated spiral artery remodeling has a dominant effect on the UtA Doppler waveform. However, these models did not incorporate the myometrial arterio-venous anastomoses, which have significant potential to affect utero-placental haemodynamics.

Methods

We present a more anatomically complete computational

SUBMITTER: Clark AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6511649 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature