Relation of fetal hypoxia in growth retardation to mean blood velocity in the fetal aorta.

Umbilical venous blood pO2, pCO2, pH, erythroblast count, and plasma lactate were measured in twenty-nine fetuses with growth retardation. There were significant negative correlations between the severity of fetal hypoxia, hypercapnoea, acidosis, and hyperlactaemia and the mean velocity of blood in the fetal aorta measured by doppler ultrasound.