The development of methods to assess placental oxygen metabolism would allow to clinically evaluate its function. Here, we evaluated the feasibility of estimating oxygen extraction and blood flow in some abdominal and fetal draining veins. Ovarian veins appear to play an important role in draining blood from the uterus in the supine position, where flow increased from the 2nd to 3rd trimester (16.4±8.1 versus 34.3±4.1mL/min/100g). Additionally, elevation of oxygen saturation (61.6±6.6% versus 68.3±5.0%) at the umbilical vein occurred from the 2nd to 3rd trimester, potentially reflecting increased fetal oxygen demand as pregnancy progresses.
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