COVID-19 and pregnancy- review of cases from a tertiary public hospital in Mumbai

Background: In December 2019 a novel strain of coronavirus, was first isolated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This strain connected to the cluster of acute respiratory illness cases from Wuhan, China was later officially named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2). On 30th January 2020, WHO declared the outbreak of SARS-Cov-2 a public health emergency of international concern, and on 11th March 2020 declared it to be a pandemic. Pregnant women are known to be at higher risk of severe morbidity and mortality from respiratory infections such as influenza and SARS, making a strong case for pregnant women to be considered an at-risk population for COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the clinical picture, obstetric outcome and neonatal outcome in COVID positive pregnant cases.Methods: We did a retrospective observational cohort study in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a tertiary teaching hospital in Mumbai.Results: In the study duration, 148 were diagnosed as COVID positive (~12%). 9 patients had COVID related symptoms on admission. The obstetric outcome in symptomatic patients was noted to be good. We noted 79.01% of the pregnancies reached term. Cesarean section rate in COVID positive patients was comparable to non-COVID patients in the study duration. Neonatal outcome was only 4 babies of COVID positive mothers were diagnosed positive.Conclusions: Our study shows pregnancy outcomes are not significantly worsened by the COVID-19 infection in spite of the risk factors associated with pregnancy per se and influenza infection in pregnancy

Fistulotomy versus fistulectomy for simple fistula in ano: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To compare fistulotomy with fistulectomy for wound healing, duration of surgery, post-operative pain, incontinence and recurrence in patients with fistula in ano. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data of adults who had undergone fistulotomy/fistulectomy for simple fistula in ano from January 2007 to August 2012. Data collection was done in August 2013 using questionnaire and telephonic interviews. Outcome variables like duration of wound healing, recurrence, incontinence, duration of surgery and post-operative pain were compared in both the groups. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 192 cases, there were 96(50%) in each group. The mean age was 40.51 years (range: 21-72 years) in the fistulotomy group and 41.14 years (range: 21-66 years) in the fistulectomy group (p=0.66). Both groups were comparable for baseline demographic variables. The median duration of wound healing was shorter in the fistulotomy group 15 days (Interquartile range: 7-20 days) compared to the fistulectomy group 30 days (Interquartile range: 15-42 days) (p\u3c0.001). The incidence of recurrence was comparable in fistulotomy vs. fistulectomy (3[3.12%] vs. 4[4.16%]; p=0.70). The incidence of incontinence was higher in fistulotomy compared to fistulectomy (5[5.3%] vs. 12[12.5%]; p=0.07). The severity of incontinence was also compared but the difference was insignificant (p=0.06). The median duration of surgery was significantly shorter in fistulotomy group 17 minutes (Interquartile range: 12-25 minutes) compared to fistulectomy group 25 minutes Interquartile range: 20-35 minutes (p\u3c0.001). The median post-operative pain in the surgical day care unit and at the first follow-up in clinic was zero for both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Fistulotomy yielded better results than fistulectomy since it significantly decreased the duration of wound healing and duration of surgery without increasing the incidence of recurrence, incontinence and post-operative pain