Pregnancy and Toxoplasmosis: should screening be a routine practice?

Because infectious agents can reach the fetus through the placenta, pregnancy is regarded as a particular period for contagious diseases. Identification of infections during pregnancy and appropriate treatment can prevent fetal disorders. For this purpose, to avoid their harmful effects on fetus and newborn, various infectious diseases are screened during pregnancy. Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnancy is transmitted through the transplacental pathway leading to severe neurological sequelae such as fetal abortion, stillbirth, intrauterine growth retardation, cranial calcifications, blindness, deafness, and mental retardation. This can lead to serious social and economic problems for the family and the infant, as well as society. To prevent these sequelae, infections during pregnancy need to be identified and appropriately treated. There are different opinions and practices in the world regarding the screening of T. gondii during pregnancy follow-up. This review aimed to assess the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection during gestation in Turkey and the world, its effects on the fetus, ways of protection, and suggestions about screening in the world and in Turkey in light of the literature, so that this becomes a guide for clinical practice for physicians

Successful treatment of renal artery thromboembolism with low-dose prolonged infusion of tissue-typed plasminogen activator in a patient with mitral mechanical heart valve thrombosis under the guidance of multimodality imaging

This case report describes the use of low-dose prolonged infusion of tissue-typed plasminogen activator in the treatment of renal artery thromboembolism secondary to prosthetic valve thrombosis, under the guidance of multimodality imaging. Thromboembolic occlusion of renal arteries is a rare disorder with serious consequences. It is generally associated with cardiac diseases and arrhytmias. Four consecutive doses of low-dose prolonged infusion of tissue-typed plasminogen activator [25mg tissue-typed plasminogen activator (tpa) in 6 h] were administered to the patient. This case of renal artery thromboembolism secondary to mitral mechanical prosthetic valve thrombosis was successfully treated with low-dose prolonged infusion of tPA under the guidance of multimodality imaging with renal artery Doppler ultrasonography, multislice computerized tomographic angiography, renal angiography, two-dimensional and real-time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography. This case has demonstrated that low-dose prolonged infusion of tissue-typed plasminogen activator may be effective and well tolerated in the treatment of renal embolism. Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis 23: 663-665 (C) 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The early and midterm results of carotid-subclavian and subclavian-subclavian bypass in the treatment of subclavian steal syndrome

Conclusion: Our study showed that better results were obtained with CSB considering the primary graft patency and clinical outcomes. We believe that CSB may be preferred as a more effective, safe and easily applicable method for appropriate patient profile