Intrauterine fetal hypoxia: signs, causes, treatment and prevention

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Intrauterine fetal hypoxia is a dangerous process, which, unfortunately, is very common. The consequences of hypoxia can adversely affect the development of the fetus and the activity of its internal organs. The life and he alth of the unborn child largely depends on timely diagnosis and treatment.

Waiting for a miracle

Pregnancy is a very exciting and joyful time for every woman. But to the joyful anticipation of the birth of a baby, worries about his he alth are added. The expectant mother bears a heavy burden of responsibility. For nine months, a new life develops and grows in it. The he alth of an unborn baby directly depends on the well-being of his mother.

There are many recommendations on how to take care of your he alth during pregnancy. This applies to nutrition, lifestyle, emotional stress and much more. Failure to follow these simple rules can lead to adverse consequences and damage the he alth of the fetus.

One of these consequences may be intrauterinehypoxia, which entails disturbances in the development of the fetus and, in some cases, the fading of pregnancy. To avoid this, the expectant mother needs to carefully study the risk factors that lie in wait for her during pregnancy, and try to prevent their occurrence.

What is hypoxia

"Hypoxia" is an ancient Greek word that literally translates as "low oxygen". This term refers to oxygen starvation experienced by the body or its individual organs due to the influence of certain factors.

With prolonged oxygen starvation, irreversible morphological processes occur in the human body. They change the structure of tissues and organs and disrupt their functional abilities. With oxygen starvation of the fetus, the process of formation of internal organs slows down and is disrupted, the child may be born with a lag in the development of vital systems or die. These are the consequences of intrauterine hypoxia. The heart, kidneys, liver and central nervous system are most affected by hypoxia.

Oxygen deficiency can accompany any disease or occur as an independent process, leading to defects in internal organs. For this reason, hypoxia cannot be classified as a disease, it is a pathological process, the same as inflammation or dystrophy.

Symptoms of fetal hypoxia

It is noted that in the first three months of pregnancy, oxygen starvation develops quite rarely. Most often, this can happen duringsecond and third trimester. This is due to the fact that with the growth of the fetus, an increase in its need for oxygen occurs, and under some adverse circumstances, the body of a pregnant woman cannot cope with this task.

Oxygen deficiency in a baby is difficult to detect without diagnostic tests, especially in early pregnancy. But there are some signs of intrauterine hypoxia, which should be an alarm signal for the expectant mother.

The first thing to pay attention to is the activity of the fetus. The norm is about ten movements per day. In the initial stages of hypoxia, the baby begins to feel discomfort, so it is overly active. With a longer lack of oxygen, the number of perturbations decreases. In addition, intrauterine hypoxia may be characterized by frequent fetal hiccups.

If the deviation in the number of movements from the norm and frequent hiccups are not associated with the physical exertion of the expectant mother or being in an uncomfortable position, you need to contact a specialist as soon as possible, who will identify the cause of this fetal behavior and, if necessary, prescribe treatment.

Causes of occurrence

The causes of intrauterine fetal hypoxia may be different. These include diseases that a pregnant woman suffers from, pathologies of the placenta, infection, fetal malformations.

From maternal diseases leading to fetal hypoxia, the following can be distinguished:

• anemia;
• disturbances in the work of the cardiovascular system;
• diseases of the respiratory organs;
• diabetes.

In addition, the he alth of the baby is affected by the bad habits that the expectant mother suffers from. Prevention of intrauterine hypoxia includes a complete cessation of smoking and alcohol. Any deviation from the generally accepted norms of the course of pregnancy can lead to oxygen starvation of the fetus. Such deviations can be detachment and premature aging of the placenta, gestation of the fetus, or increased uterine tone.

Another factor that causes oxygen deficiency is the incompatibility of the Rh factor of the mother and child. Such incompatibility can lead to hemolytic disease of the fetus, which is often accompanied by hypoxia. In addition to the above factors, mechanical effects on the fetus can have an impact - entanglement with the umbilical cord, squeezing the head during childbirth, and so on.

Causes of intrauterine hypoxia can also cause other, no less serious complications. To avoid adverse effects on the development of the fetus, the expectant mother must be observed by a qualified specialist throughout the entire period of pregnancy.

Types of fetal hypoxia

Depending on how long oxygen starvation lasts, intrauterine hypoxia has two forms: acute and chronic. Acute hypoxia is characterized by a sharp decrease in incoming oxygen. The most common acute form occurs during the process of childbirth or with heavy uterine bleeding. Chronicintrauterine hypoxia is formed over a long period of time, gradually disrupting the development of the fetus.

Degrees of progression of oxygen starvation

Three degrees of development of fetal hypoxia have been identified. Initially, the fetus, not having received the required amount of oxygen, tries to compensate for its lack. The first degree is compensation for the lack of oxygen. In the body of the baby, changes begin to occur, aimed at increasing the volume of incoming oxygen. Increases the level of a hormone that increases the tone of blood vessels - cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol stimulate an increase in the volume of blood that circulates through the vessels, and an increase in heart rate. The composition of the blood changes: the level of hemoglobin and red blood cells increases. In addition, there is an increased activity of the baby. He begins to move more intensively and make respiratory movements, despite the closed glottis.

At the second stage of partial compensation, the protective functions of the body determine the priority organs that are supplied with oxygen in the first place. Such organs are the heart and brain, respectively, other organs (kidneys, lungs, gastrointestinal tract) receive blood that is poor in oxygen, which leads to disturbances in their development and work. Lack of oxygen also leads to the breakdown of glucose. This contributes to a decrease in the energy reserve in the cells of the body and metabolic disorders.

Chronic intrauterine fetal hypoxia also has a third stage of progression - decompensation. Externally, the stage manifests itself as a decrease in fetal activity and a decrease in heart rate. The work of protective mechanisms aimed at providing organs with oxygen fails. Cortisol is produced in insufficient quantities, respectively, the blood flow slows down, and the volume of circulating blood decreases. The blood is saturated with carbon dioxide, blood clotting is disturbed, which leads to the formation of blood clots and bleeding.

Diagnostic measures

Methods of instrumental diagnostics help to determine the presence and degree of oxygen starvation. The first such method is cardiotocography (CTG). This diagnostic method is completely safe. The cardiotocography apparatus continuously records the fetal heart rate and uterine contractions. A tachogram is displayed using the ultrasound graph. This is a graph that reflects the number of contractions of the heart muscle over a given period of time. The strain gauge sensor measures fluctuations in pressure and uterine tone, displaying a hysterogram - a graph of the muscular activity of the uterus. CTG counts the number of movements and allows you to track the dependence of the heart rate on the activity of the fetus.

Starting from the twentieth week of pregnancy, an ultrasound examination with Dopplerography is possible. This method is aimed at studying the blood flow from the mother to the placenta and from the placenta to the fetus and allows you to detect violations of the uteroplacental circulation. Using this diagnostic method, you can also determine the quality of amniotic fluid.

In addition to the above methods, the specialist listens to the fetal heart to assess its work using an obstetric stethoscope. However, this method is inaccurate, therefore, if a heart abnormality is suspected, the doctor directs the pregnant woman to undergo CTG and ultrasound.

Treatment

Treatment of intrauterine hypoxia requires observation of a pregnant woman in a hospital. The woman is provided with complete rest and a therapeutic method of treatment is prescribed, which is aimed not only at enriching the blood with oxygen, but also at identifying the true cause of hypoxia. As a rule, abnormalities in the course of pregnancy, such as intrauterine fetal hypoxia, are the consequences or symptoms of a disease.

The doctor prescribes pregnant drugs that reduce blood viscosity, improve blood flow from the mother to the placenta and normalize the metabolism between mother and fetus. The appointment of other drugs and procedures depends on the cause of hypoxia, if it is identified, and is aimed at eliminating this cause.

With positive dynamics, the patient is discharged and given recommendations for the prevention of hypoxia. These include walking in the fresh air, reducing physical activity, giving up bad habits and following certain rules in nutrition. If the treatment was ineffective, and oxygen deficiency persists, surgical removal of the fetus is required. If the gestational age exceeds twenty-eight weeks, the doctor prescribes an operation - a caesarean section.

Prevention

There are some simple guidelines you can follow to reduce your riskbaby's oxygen deficiency. Before planning a pregnancy, a woman needs to treat chronic diseases, get rid of bad habits. When pregnancy occurs, it is important to register with a medical institution at an early stage. Throughout the entire period of pregnancy, it is necessary to regularly visit a doctor, take tests and do ultrasound. This will ensure control over the he alth of the pregnant woman and the baby, and, therefore, will help to avoid the development of possible pathological conditions of the fetus.

An important aspect in the prevention of intrauterine hypoxia is maintaining a he althy lifestyle. You need to spend a lot of time outdoors, sleep eight hours a night, balance your diet.

During pregnancy, you need to replenish the supply of vitamins and nutrients, the level of which decreases due to the additional burden on the body. Maintain normal levels of calcium, magnesium and other minerals. It is especially important to control the content of iron in the blood, since its low level leads to anemia - one of the main causes of hypoxia. Vitamin preparations should be taken as prescribed by the doctor.

Consequences

The consequences of intrauterine hypoxia depend on its type. Chronic hypoxia, which began in early pregnancy, when the formation of the vital systems of the fetus is just beginning, can lead to the formation of congenital malformations. Hypoxia suffered in late pregnancy can cause fetal growth retardation, and also leads to ischemia.and necrosis of individual organs. A newborn baby often has a lack of height and weight, as well as a difficult adaptation period (restructuring of the body in a new environment). In the future, oxygen starvation experienced in the womb can cause diseases such as epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Acute intrauterine hypoxia of a child leads to ischemia and tissue necrosis. If acute hypoxia occurs during childbirth, there are several possible consequences, depending on the cause of oxygen starvation:

1. The baby's airway is not completely cleared of amniotic fluid. In this case, the development of pneumonia is possible, in the worst case, the death of the child from suffocation.
2. Loss of a large volume of blood. The newborn develops hemorrhagic shock, which disrupts the mechanisms of operation of all systems. Under such circumstances, there is a threat to the life of not only the baby, but also the mother.

After the birth of a baby who has undergone hypoxia in the womb, he needs constant monitoring by qualified specialists. The consequences of oxygen starvation may not appear in the first days of life, but much later. Therefore, it is very important to monitor changes and anomalies in the development of the baby in order to identify and prevent the development of adverse effects of hypoxia.