Objective: Hemodynamic analysis of the fetal renal artery elucidated the function of the renal glomerulus and renal tubule in normal growth fetus and was weighed against fetal renal disease. Design: The subjects were fetuses from pregnant women who gave informed consent. There were 6 cases of polycystic kidney, 4 cases of hydronephrosis and 33 cases of fetuses presenting with normal growth. A longitudinal study was performed for normal growth fetuses. Using maximum systolic velocity (V_max), pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI), the blood flow was measured initially at 20–24 weeks of pregnancy and every 4 weeks thereafter. The measurement was performed 5 times in total. Also, for fetal renal disease, the measurement was performed using the same indexes. Results: In 2 cases of polycystic kidney, which led to death due to postpartum afunctional kidney, V_max indicated the lower level of less than mean –1.5 SD. In 1 case of single hydronephrosis, the single afunctional kidney was observed postpartum due to blood flow disruption. In 7 cases of normal renal function after birth, it indicated the lower level in some gestational ages but was generally in the normal range. Conclusions: Using indexes to evaluate the glomerulus and renal tubule of fetal renal disease, mean –1.5 SD of V_max can be considered to be the lower limit in the normal range and expected to be an important factor for the final outcome.

No abstract

In a case of cephalothoracopagus, the umbilical artery (UA) was observed with color Doppler method, and the findings were compared with the hemodynamics of 46 normal fetuses. The patient was a 25-year-old primigravida who had appeared for routine prenatal visits since her 6th week of pregnancy. At a later time, the patient was examined after an interval of 4 weeks. Although an ultrasonography was also conducted, unfortunately, any findings of cephalothoracopagus were not detected. In the 25th week of gestation, we hospitalized her for marked polyhydramnios (amniotic fluid index: 280 mm), at which time an ultrasound examination revealed cephalothoracopagus. In the UA, the V_max was 30.3 cm/s (normal fetus at 25–28 weeks: 33.5 ± 3.9 cm/s). The UA hemodynamics fell below the normal range. At 26 weeks, the UA V_max was 56.5 cm/sec, a level which significantly exceeded the normal range. The patient underwent a cesarean section at 27 weeks of gestation; the indication was fetal distress. This is caused by the condition in which the fetal heart beats decreases to 90 beats per minute 3 times during a 10-min period as measured on the cardiotocograms. She delivered a 1,392-gram female with an Apgar score of 2 points (respiratory 1 point and heart rate 1 point). The infant was a cephalothoracopagus, with one head, two hearts, four upper limbs, and four lower limbs. The neonate died from circulatory failure 56 min after birth.

In 1980, Espey proposed a famous hypothesis that mammalian ovulation is comparable to an inflammatory reaction and many researches have proved the validity of his hypothesis in the last three decades. For example, interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and other inflammatory cytokines presence was proven in the preovulatory follicle. Since granulocyte is the major leukocyte and it plays a very important role during inflammation, the importance of granulocyte and its related cytokine, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the mechanism of human ovulation is easily predictable. G-CSF is one of the hemopoietic cytokines and it has strong positive effects on granulocytes. G-CSF increases the number of granulocytes and it improves the function of granulocytes. In this review, the participation of leukocytes in the ovulation mechanism is demonstrated first. Second, the participation of G-CSF is shown in comparison with the above mentioned cytokines. Finally, since G-CSF has been used for more than 20 years as a medicine without severe side effects in the field of oncology, the clinical application of G-CSF for the treatment of an ovulation disorder, luteinized unruptured follicle (LUF), will be discussed.

To construct new reference ranges for serial measurements of commonly used umbilical artery Doppler indices (PI, RI, and S: D ratio). Study design: Prospective longitudinal study of the umbilical artery Doppler indices obtained serially at the free-loop of umbilical cord at four-weekly intervals at 19-42 weeks of gestation in 130 low-risk singleton pregnancies. A total of 513 observations were used to construct the reference ranges using multilevel modeling. Results: Longitudinally established percentiles of Doppler indices from the present study show a continuous reduction throughout the second half of pregnancy without any plateau or increase near term as reported previously. There was a significant negative association between Doppler indices and placental weight and neonatal birth weight, but not with gender. The intra-observer coefficients of variation for the umbilical artery PI, RI, and S: D ratio were 10.5%, 6.8%, and 13.0%, respectively. Conclusion: New reference ranges for umbilical artery Doppler indices based on longitudinal observations appear to be slightly different from cross-sectional studies, and are more appropriate for serial evaluation of fetal hemodynamics.