Uterine artery pulsatility and resistivity indices in pregnancy: comparison of MRI and Doppler US
View / Open Files
Authors
Hawkes, RA
Patterson, Andrew
Priest, AN
Harrison, G
Hunter, S
Pinney, J
Set, Pat
Hilliard, N
Publication Date
2016-04-05Journal Title
Placenta
ISSN
0143-4004
Publisher
Elsevier
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Hawkes, R., Patterson, A., Priest, A., Harrison, G., Hunter, S., Pinney, J., Set, P., et al. (2016). Uterine artery pulsatility and resistivity indices in pregnancy: comparison of MRI and Doppler US. Placenta https://doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2016.04.002
Abstract
Objective
The aim of this work was to evaluate whether the uterine arteries (UA) could be identified and their flow profiles measured during a fetal MRI examination. A comparison was performed against same day routine sonographic Doppler assessment.
Methods
35 normal, healthy, singleton pregnancies at 28-32 weeks gestation underwent routine Doppler examination, followed by MRI examination. The resistivity index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI) of the left and right UA were measured using phase contrast MRI. Bland Altman statistics were used to compare MRI with the ultrasound results.
Results
Sixty-nine comparable vessels were analysed. Six vessels were excluded due to artefact or technical error. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated the ultrasound indices were comparable, although systematically lower than the MRI indices; Right UA RI bias -0.03 (95% limits of agreement -0.27 to +0.20), and left UA RI bias -0.06 (95% limits of agreement -0.26 to +0.14); Right UA PI bias -0.06 (95% limits of agreement -0.50 to +0.38), Left UA PI bias -0.11 (95% limits of agreement -0.54 to +0.32). The inter-rater agreement for the MRI derived PI and RI analysis was good.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that in the majority of early third trimester pregnancies, the uterine arteries can be identified, and their flow profiles measured using MRI, and that the derived PI and RI values are comparable with Doppler ultrasound values. MRI may prove a useful future technique to complement the use of ultrasound in the assessment of fetal well-being.
Keywords
phase contrast, magnetic resonance imaging, uterine artery Doppler, fetal growth restriction, pre-eclampsia, pulsatility index, resistivity index
Sponsorship
This study was supported by The National Institute for Health Research, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. We are grateful for support from the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and the help of the Rosie Ultrasound Department and MRI Radiographers.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2016.04.002
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/255747
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Recommended or similar items
The following licence files are associated with this item: