Ceasarean scar pregnancies, diagnosis and management

Background: Objective of present study was to describe evaluation and management of pregnancies implanted into uterine Cesarean section scars, Ceasarean scar pregnancies (CSP), is defined as gestational sac implanted in the myometrium at the site of a previous ceasarean scar. Also known as Ceasarean ectopic pregnancy.Methods: In all antenatal patients attending the antenatal outpatient department of a tertiary care service hospital a transvaginal sonography was done for determining the gestational age as well as the viability of the pregnancy. In all patients with a history of previous Cesarean section(s), special effort was made to assess the possibility of implantation into the uterine scar by means of an early transvaginal and colour doppler ultrasound.Results: Twelve Cesarean section scar pregnancies were diagnosed in a five-year period, of a tertiary care service hospital. Five (42%) patients with Cesarean scar pregnancies were treated surgically, four patients medically (33%), and two patients expectantly (17%) and one patient opted to continue the pregnancy. Surgical management was successful in all cases, although two of five (40%) women suffered bleeding (300-500ml). In the group of women who were managed medically the success rate was 3/4(75%). Expectant management was successful in one of two cases (50%). One patient who opted to continue pregnancy, underwent a ceasarean hysterectomy at 33 weeks of gestation for placenta accreta.Conclusions: Incidence of ceasarean section scar pregnancies is increasing as is the increasing rate of ceasarean deliveries. A high index of suspicion in all cases of post ceasarean pregnancies, coupled with early transvaginal ultrasonography along with colour doppler confirmation and institution of early and individualized treatment, optimizes the clinical outcome. Although rare, the patient and her relatives must be made aware of the possibility of recurrent CSP

Are Gynaecologists underutilising the open access technique for laparoscopic surgery?

Background: Open access technique for laparoscopic surgery is used by the surgeons routinely, for gaining intraabdominal access safely, but is somehow underutilised by gynaecologists. The most important and dangerous part of laparoscopic surgery is while gaining access to the abdominal cavity, especially in the obese, thin and in patients with previous abdominal scars. Various access techniques have been described including Hasson and Fielding technique, transvaginal or transuterine insufflation, alternative sites for introducing Veress needle abdominally and insufflations with an optical trocar. Open access technique can minimize visceral and vascular injuries and ensures quick and easy intra-abdominal access.Methods: 250 patients were taken up for laparoscopic surgery at tertiary care service hospitals for open access technique for laparoscopic surgery for a variety of indications. The spectrum of patients ranged from thin, obese, single and multiple transverse scarsResults: A total of 250 patients, were taken up for laparoscopic surgery with the open access method successfully. The median age of the patients was 32 years, there were 77 patients (31%), with previous transverse laparotomy incisions. Median time for access was 100 seconds, and in 102 patients, there was prolonged access time ranging from 150-300 seconds, 37 (36%) of these patients were those with previous multiple transverse laparotomies and 65 (64%), patients were obese. There were no intra-abdominal organ or vascular injuries. Skin incisions healed well.Conclusions: This study describes the open access technique in patients, with transverse laparotomy scars and especially useful in thin and obese women, and where the chances of vascular and visceral injuries can be high while gaining intra - abdominal access. It is safe, effective, easy to learn and requires minimal instrumentation and can be used in the vast majority of the gynaecological cases

Role of mifepristone in pre-induction cervical ripening: a double blind placebo-controlled study

Background: Mifepristone has been used for cervical priming and labour induction for long with modest success. This double-blind study compares mifepristone with placebo in causing cervical ripening and inducing spontaneous labour in women past their expected date of delivery.Methods: 200 women at 40 weeks gestation received mifepristone or placebo after Bishop score was assessed. 48 hours later, cervical score was rechecked. Improvement in Bishop score was noted as primary outcome measure. Incidence of spontaneous labour, cesarean delivery and meconium staining of liquor during labour was also monitored.Results: 16 women went into labour before 48 hours and 184 were evaluable. Improvement in Bishop score was noted in significantly more women in mifepristone group (82/94 versus 42/90, p<0.0001). Mean change in Bishop score was 3.22 in mifepristone group and 1.61 in placebo group. This advantage in cervical ripening with mifepristone did not translate into better obstetric outcome. The incidence of spontaneous labour (64/94 mifepristone versus 60/90 placebo), cesarean section (4/94 versus 12/90) and MSL (8/94 versus 10/90) was comparable in the two groups and did not reach statistical significance.Conclusions: Mifepristone has a beneficial effect on cervical ripening in term pregnancies but does not offer obstetric advantage in terms of higher rates of spontaneous labour or vaginal delivery.

Role of therapeutic drug monitoring of azathioprine and thiopurine methyltransferase enzyme status in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Indian scenario

Inflammatory bowel disease is mainly caused by dysragulated immune system. Inflammatory bowel disease incidences are rising in Asian countries with difficulty in their diagnosis and managements. There is rising the incidences and prevalence rate in India. Inflammatory bowel disease has two major subtypes Ulcerative colitis and chron’s disease. In ulcerative colitis inflammation occurs in lower part of large intestine that extend from anal verge to proximal colon while in case of chron’s disease there is transmural inflammation of gastrointestinal tract. This review is to provide comprehensive review focused on the current status of therapeutic drug monitoring of azathioprine metabolites in patients of inflammatory bowel disease

A study on pregnancy outcome following previous one spontaneous abortion

Background: Pregnancy plays a unique role in the transformation of women towards completeness. Pregnancy should be considered a unique normal physiological episode in a woman’s life. However in some cases many twists and turns occur which alter the good outcome of pregnancy into a disaster. For those women who have had a previous unsuccessful outcome, pregnancy may bring a lot of inevitable negative emotions. The main objective of our study was to determine pregnancy outcome following previous one spontaneous abortionMethods: A prospective study was done on 756 patients. There were 252 patients in the case group consisting of pregnant females with the history of previous one spontaneous abortion (group A). There were two control groups - primigravida women (group B) & second gravida with history of previous successful pregnancy outcome (group C) who delivered subsequent to our study group. All the antenatal, post natal complications and modes of delivery were noted and compared between the three groups.Results: Pregnancy complications included: threatened miscarriage, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), preterm delivery, intra uterine growth restriction (IUGR), diabetes mellitus, abruption, placenta praevia, preeclampsia, eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 20. Statistical analysis showed that all the complications except preeclampsia, eclampsia, placenta praevia and diabetes were more in the study group than both the control groups (p<0.05). Risk of preeclampsia was more in primigravidae. Rate of caesarean section and instrumental delivery was also significantly increased in women with previous one spontaneous abortion. Conclusions: Women with a history of previous one spontaneous abortion are at an increased risk of complications in the next pregnancy. So careful surveillance should be provided to such women and not to be restricted only to females with history of recurrent pregnancy loss

Comparison of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and self-blood pressure monitoring for diagnosing white coat hypertension amongst pregnant women

Background: White coat hypertension (WCH) is a common and well recognized phenomenon. It is also very prevalent amongst pregnant women and is often diagnosed as chronic/ gestational hypertension leading to unnecessary medications during pregnancy. ABPM is the gold standard for diagnosis of WCH. SBPM is an easy effective and reliable method to measure blood pressure but its efficacy needs to be tested and compared with ABPM in cases of WCH. It is important to compare the two methods in assessing WCH so SBPM can be utilized in cases of WCH, if found useful and efficacious.Methods: All pregnant women who presented to the ANC were screened for hypertension. Those who were diagnosed to be hypertensive in antenatal clinic and these patients were then admitted for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) for 24 hours and SBPM on 6 hourly bases for 5 days.Results: The ABPM and SBPB readings were noted, tabulated and compared. It was found that the prevalence of ‘WCH’ in this study using ABPM and SBPM were 47.368% (27/54) and 45.614% (26/54) respectively.Conclusions: The results in diagnosing WCH using ABPM and SBPM were comparable

Prevalence of white coat hypertension amongst pregnant women admitted with high BP recordings in ante-natal clinic

Background: White coat hypertension (WCH) is a common and well recognized phenomenon with significant prevalence amongst all age groups. This is also quite prevalent in the pregnant women with an intermediate long term prognosis between hypertensive and normo-tensive individuals. It is important to assess the true prevalence WCH in pregnant women and to prevent unnecessary medications to them during pregnancy but at the same time to keep a timely follow up and a watchful eye on these patients to identify complications at the earliest. Study was conducted at a peripheral secondary level hospital with a small obstetrics and gynecology OPD and ward. 54 patients were diagnosed to be hypertensive in Antenatal Clinic.Methods: All pregnant women who presented to the ANC were screened for hypertension. Those who were diagnosed to be hypertensive in antenatal clinic and these patients were then admitted for Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) for 24 hours.Results: The ABPM tracings were checked and tabulated to arrive at the final diagnosis after 24 hrs. The prevalence of ‘WCH’ in this study was 48.15% as 26/54 patients were found to have their average BP < 140/90 mmHg after measurement by ABPM over 24 hours so they were diagnosed as ‘White Coat Hypertension’ patients.Conclusions: Many women who come to ANC in the early pregnancy are diagnosed to have hypertension. WCH is a well known phenomenon in pregnancy. WCH must be ruled out prior to starting these patients on anti-hypertensive medications

Hysteroscopic evaluation of postmenopausal bleeding patients and its correlation with histopathological examination

Background: Menopause is defined according to WHO as the permanent cessation of menstruation resulting from the loss of ovarian follicular activity. It is defined as uterine bleeding occurring after at least 1 year of amenorrhoea. Considering the high accuracy of hysteroscopy in evaluation of postmenopausal bleeding, the present study was carried out with an aim to evaluate hysteroscopic findings in women with postmenopausal bleeding in order to assess the causes of PMB and to determine their prevalence in our population.Methods: This was a prospective observation study, comprising of total number of 50 postmenopausal women attending gynae OPD at department of obstetrics and gynecology, Command Hospital (CH), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The data obtained for the purpose of study was fed into computer using Microsoft excel 2013 software.Results: A total of 50 women with complaints of postmenopausal bleeding were enrolled in the study. Maximum number of women had achieved menopause between age 46 and 50 years. Hysteroscopy had an accuracy of 94% for detection of polyps. Hysteroscopy had an accuracy of 90% for detection of atrophy. For fibroid, hysteroscopy had an absolute sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive, negative predictive and accuracy value (100%).Conclusions: The findings of present study suggested that hysteroscopy has a useful role in evaluation of postmenopausal bleeding especially in the diagnosis of polyps and fibroids. Given fewer number of cases, the usefulness of hysteroscopy in evaluation of endometrial cancer and hyperplasia could not be established adequately. Further studies on larger number of sample size will help in providing more useful and confirmatory information

Electrocorticographic correlates of cognitive control in a stroop task—intracranial recording in epileptic patients

The human brain executes cognitive control, such as selection of relevant information in the presence of competing irrelevant information, and cognitive control is essential for us to yield a series of optimal behaviors in our daily life. This study assessed electrocorticographic γ‐oscillations elicited by cognitive control in the context of the Stroop color‐naming paradigm, with a temporal resolution of 10 msec and spatial resolution of 1 cm. Subjects were instructed to overtly read a color word printed in an incongruent color in the reading task, and to overtly name the ink color of a color word printed in an incongruent color in the Stroop color‐naming task. The latter task specifically elicited larger γ‐augmentations in the dorsolateral‐premotor, dorsolateral‐prefrontal and supplementary motor areas with considerable inter‐subject spatial variability. Such Stroop color‐naming‐specific γ‐augmentations occurred 500 to 200 msec prior to overt responses. Electrical stimulation of the sites showing Stroop color‐naming‐specific γ‐augmentations resulted in temporary naming impairment more frequently than that of the remaining sites. This study has provided direct evidence that a critical process of cognitive control in the context of Stroop color‐naming paradigm consists of recruitment of neurons essential for naming located in variable portions of the dorsolateral premotor and prefrontal areas. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96736/1/21129_ftp.pd