This document discusses how functional echocardiography can assess cardiac function in fetuses with non-cardiac diseases or conditions that impact the fetus. It provides details on:
1) How ultrasound can evaluate various aspects of fetal cardiac function like cardiac output, size, contractility, and diastolic function.
2) Examples of conditions that can alter fetal hemodynamics like intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), tumors, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, and maternal diabetes. In IUGR, changes in the umbilical artery and ductus venosus occur as placental function declines.
3) Insights from evaluating these conditions, such as how IUGR fetuses develop a dominant left