Ductus Venosus
The ductus venosus is a blood vessel that is only used when the baby is inside in the womb. The purpose of the vessel is to take the oxygen rich blood from the placenta to divert it to the heart and through preferentially to the brain. This blood vessel lies underneath the baby’s liver.
Early research has implicated an abnormal pattern on the waveform as being present more frequently in babies with Downs syndrome or serious heart problems.
We haven’t been using the test for long enough to produce a meaningful audit of our results but it would appear that the percentages are mirroring those of tricuspid regurgitation.
If we find this present and the pregnancy is low risk for Downs syndrome we recommend a detailed scan of the heart. This can be flagged up for the hospital looking after to perform or you can come back here for the scan at 23 weeks. Sometimes we can do earlier scans (18 weeks) to try and detect major heart conditions but 23 weeks is considered to be best time for the heart scan.
