Small babies and the mother's circulation

25 years ago it was thought small babies were small because of an abnormally developed placenta, restricting the supply of oxygen. Whilst doctors would usually wait as long as possible before inducing a small baby, it is a more difficult decision if there is a lack of oxygen reaching the fetus because of a malfunctioning placenta.

Christoph Lees is a Professor of Obstetrics at Imperial College London who studies how fetuses grow and how we might be able to address growth restriction within the womb. This included investigating the possibility of screening for small babies based on placental blood flow at a much earlier stage of pregnancy and before the problems manifested themselves. However in the course of these studies evidence emerged that shifted the culpability from the placenta to abnormalities of the heart and blood vessels within the mother.

In his inaugural lecture he will discuss evidence that some mother's abnormal cardiovascular function can not only lead to high blood pressure in the mother (preeclampsia) during pregnancy, but this can also feed through to their baby, restricting fetal growth. He will also explore the opportunities these findings might create for treatment-and prophylaxis in other words reducing the risk of these problems occurring in the first place. It is far easier to address issues within the mother’s cardiovascular system, which work through restricting placental blood flow, rather than attempting to transplant the placenta-something that is never likely to be desirable or possible. These treatments include blood pressure lowering drugs and other novel agents that Christoph will discuss.

Please note that Imperial College London processes your personal data in line with the Advancement Privacy Notice. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact [email protected]