Umbilical arterial SD ratio

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Umbilical arterial systolic/diastolic (S/D) ratio is a parameter used in obstetric imaging as part of umbilical arterial (UA) Doppler assessment. It is the ratio between the systolic velocity and the diastolic velocity.

Practical points

Reference range varies through the stage of pregnancy. If there is an increase in the resistance to blood flow through the umbilical artery, this is seen as an increase in systolic/diastolic (S/D) flow ratio.

S/D ratio mean value decreases with fetal age

  • at 20 weeks, the 50th percentile for the S/D ratio is 4
  • at 30 weeks, the 50percentile is 2.83
  • at 40 weeks, the 50 percentile is 2.18

See also

  • automatic online fetal umbilical artery Doppler indices calculator from www.perinatology.com