Women's Health

Maternity

Testing

Umbilical Artery Doppler
Umbilical Artery Doppler is an ultrasound technique that allows one to gauge how much resistance fetal blood encounters during its passage through the placenta. Ideally, fetal blood should encounter very little resistance; with certain placental abnormalities, increased resistance to flow may limit oxygenation transfer to fetal blood. In most cases, umbilical artery Doppler does not give much more information than the nonstress test or biophysical profile, but when there are concerns about less-than-expected fetal size, umbilical artery Doppler may shed light on the reason for the lack of growth.