Effect of electromagnetic waves of cellular phones on fetal blood flow and heart rate patterns: a pi

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Effect of electromagnetic waves of cellular
phones on fetal blood flow and heart rate
patterns a pilot study

• Thesis presented by
• Amr Hazim Abbassy M.B, B.Ch
• Supervised by
• Prof. Dr. Ismaeel Foad Al-Aseily
• Assistant Professor Dr. Osama Mahmoud Azmy
• Assistant Prof Dr.Foad Abdelqader Abohemela

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Question Doctor, is it safe to use the mobile
phone during pregnancy?
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Scientific Background

• Increased use of cellular phones during pregnancy
  while little is known about their hazards.
• Proximity of the fetus to cell phone during
  transport and use.
• Studies indicate that there might be health
  hazards at non-thermal levels as well as
  behavioral disorders in the offspring.

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Scientific Background continued

• Cellular phones emit microwave radiation in the
  spectrum region of 800-900 MHz
• The rate at which radiation is absorbed is
  measured by the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).
• Currently, it is difficult to measure the amount
  ELF absorbed by the fetus due to cellular phone
  use.

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Aim of the work

• To assess the effect of cellular phones on
  pregnancy.
• To provide guidelines and safety measures for
  using the technology during pregnancy.
• To provide an addition to the growing research
  done worldwide on the possible health hazards of
  this relatively new technology.

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The Fetal Heart Rate

• Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring is
  commonly used to assess fetal well-being
• The fetal heart rate undergoes constant and
  minute adjustments in response to the fetal
  environment and stimuli.
• The FHR is controlled by the autonomic nervous
  system. The inhibitory influence on the heart
  rate is conveyed by the vagus nerve, whereas
  excitatory influence is conveyed by the
  sympathetic nervous system.

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The Fetal Heart Rate continued

• The normal FHR range is between 120 and 160
  beats per minute (bpm).
• Fetal heart rate patterns are classified as
  reassuring, nonreassuring or ominous.
• Reassuring patterns correlate well with a good
  fetal outcome, while nonreassuring patterns do
  not.

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Doppler Ultrasound

• Doppler US offers a unique noninvasive technology
  for investigating the circulatory system.
• Doppler US velocimetry has been extensively used
  to investigate fetal, fetoplacental, and
  uteroplacental circulations.
• There is ample evidence associating abnormal
  Doppler findings with complications of pregnancy
  and an adverse perinatal outcome as in multiple
  gestations, fetal anemia, fetal IUGR, and fetal
  congenital heart diseases.

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The Body is an Electrical Organism

• Heartbeat
• Brainwaves
• Cell Division

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Health Effects from exposure to electromagnetic
fields

• Expanding use of cellular technology has led to
  some speculations that electromagnetic
  pollution is causing significant risks to human
  health.
• The amount of energy absorbed by the body is
  called the Specific Absorption Rate expressed
  in (W/Kg).
• Biological effects that result from heating of
  tissues by RF energy are referred to as thermal
  effects.
• However studies indicate that biological effects
  may be caused without heating of tissues referred
  to as non-thermal effect

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Health Effects from exposure to electromagnetic
fields cont.

• The thermal effect is the principle by which
  microwave ovens cook food and very high RF energy
  100mW/cm2 or more can result in heating of
  biological tissues.
• Tissue damage in humans could occur due to the
  bodys inability to dissipate the excessive heat.
• The eye and the testes are particularly
  vulnerable due to relative lack of blood flow to
  dissipate the excessive heat load.
• Studies show that environmental levels of RF
  energy are below levels necessary to produce a
  thermal effect.

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Health Effects from exposure to electromagnetic
fields cont.
Membrane Effects
Blood-Brain Barrier
Signal Transduction Effects
Non-Thermal Effects
Cell proliferative Responses
Immune System Effect
Nervous System
Effect on Neurotransmitters
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Health Effects from exposure to electromagnetic
fields cont.

• Other health outcomes investigated after RF
  exposure, include
• Headaches
• General malaise
• Short term memory loss
• Nausea
• Sleep disturbances
• Numbness

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Intrauterine Effects in Animals Exposed to
Microwave Fields

• Most of the animal studies have used higher ELFs
  than maximum permissible exposure levels
  according to the IEEE.
• The most common observation at high exposures was
  a decrease in fetal mass.
• Lower birthweights, slower growth rates,
  exencephalies, and other skeletal abnormalities
  were reported in mice.
• Teratogenic effects were only observed in animals
  exposed to levels of radiation causing a thermal
  effect.

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Patients and Methods

• In this study, thirty pregnant women were
  recruited from Kasr El Eini Maternity Hospital.
• They were subdivided into 2 groups
• Group I comprised of 15 pregnant women . The
  FHR was obtained for 5 minutes with no mobile
  phones around. FHR was obtained and traced for
  another 5 minutes while the patient was on
  conversation mode.
• Group II comprised of 15 pregnant women.
  Doppler ultrasound of the umbilical artery was
  performed and the Resistance Index was traced.
  The patients were instructed to use the cellular
  phone on conversation mode for 5 minutes, after
  which doppler ultrasound of the umbilical artery
  was performed and the Resistance index was
  traced.

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Inclusion Criteria

• No medical disorders or complications of
  pregnancy
• Within age group 18 35 years of age
• 28-32 weeks gestation
• singleton fetus
• in cephalic presentation

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Questionnaire

• A questionnaire was designed and included the
  following parameters
• Personal history
• Medical history
• Average amount of time spent using cellular phone
  
• Symptoms reported from usage
• Written consent of approval of participation in
  the research

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Results

• In comparison between FHR baseline before and
  after exposure there was no statistical
  significant difference.

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Results

• In comparison between FHR accelerations before
  and after exposure there was no statistical
  significant difference.

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Results

• In comparison between R/I of the umbilical
  artery before and after exposure there was no
  statistical significant difference.

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Discussion Is It Safe to use a mobile phone
during pregnancy?

• The short answer to this question is that mobile
  phones are probably safe to use in pregnancy.
  Research suggests that there is no risk to health
  from mobile phones in the short term .
• However, it is still a good idea to be cautious.
  Mobile phones have only been in use for a
  relatively short amount of time, so it's
  impossible to be certain of their long-term
  effects yet.

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Discussion Is It Safe to use a mobile phone
during pregnancy? Cont.

• Mobiles emit low levels of "non-ionizing"
  electromagnetic radiation - as do televisions,
  computers, microwave ovens and other man-made and
  natural environmental sources that we're exposed
  to every day.
• Non-ionizing" radiation is much milder than the
  "ionizing" radiation emitted by sources such as
  x-rays, radiation therapy machines and CT scans,
  which are known to be harmful to a developing
  fetus.
• The amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus might
  be a proposed thermoregulatory barrier mechanism
  against the thermal effect produced by cellular
  phones.

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Summary and Conclusions

• Our study suggests that there are no risks to
  fetal well being in the short term.
• Although reassuring about the safety of the
  technology in the short term, impossible to reach
  conclusive evidence regarding long term
  cumulative effects.

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Recommendations

• use your phone as little as possible, and only
  when you have no alternative - send a text or use
  a landline instead.
• keep your calls short !
• try to avoid using your phone if the signal
  strength is low .
• hands-free kit can reduce the SAR for your head
  while you're on the phone but may increase the
  SAR for the rest of your body, something you
  might want to avoid while you are pregnant.

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Recommendations cont.

• Finally, we recommend retrospective
  randomized control trials using large number of
  pregnant women to reach a conclusive evidence
  regarding long term residual effects.

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• Thanks for your attention!