An observational assessment of the sublingual microcirculation of pregnant and non-pregnant women.

R B George, A Munro, I Abdo, D M McKeen, C Lehmann

Journal: International journal of obstetric anesthesia 2014;23(1):23-8

PMID: 24342223

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The microcirculation is responsible for distribution of blood within tissues, delivery of oxygen and other nutrients, and regulation of blood pressure. The objective of this study was to compare the sublingual microcirculation of pregnant participants to that of comparable non-pregnant volunteers.

METHODS

Two groups of participants were recruited: a group of pregnant, non-laboring women with singleton pregnancies at term gestation and a control group of age-comparable non-pregnant volunteers. A sidestream dark field imaging device was applied to the sublingual mucosal surface obtaining a steady image for at least 20 s duration, in five visual fields. The resultant five video clips per participant were analyzed blindly and at random to prevent coupling between images. The mean microvascular flow index values for each group were compared using a paired t-test.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven participants were recruited (19 pregnant, 18 non-pregnant); a single pregnant participant was withdrawn because of technical issues. Baseline characteristics were similar with the exception of weight and body mass index. The mean microvascular flow index was significantly higher in the pregnant group 2.7 ± 0.2 compared to the non-pregnant group 2.5 ± 0.3 (P = 0.021), while the perfused vessel density and proportion of perfused vessels were not significantly different (P = 0.707 and 0.403, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The microvascular flow index of pregnant women is higher than a comparable non-pregnant group, which appears to correlate with the physiological changes of pregnancy.

Address: Department of Women's and Obstetric Anesthesia, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove, University Hospital Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.; Department of Women's and Obstetric Anesthesia, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijoa.2013.08.013

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MeSH Terms: Adult, Female, Humans, Microcirculation, Mouth Floor, Pregnancy, Prospective Studies, Video Recording