Perinatal Medicine Ecab

Perinatal medicine encompasses various current topics in fetal diagnosis and management, besides preconception counseling. The concept of preconception counseling and healthcare evaluation optimizes a couple’s readiness for childbearing. This helps to minimize any foreseeable adverse factors through a careful diagnostic review and provision of appropriate intervention and therapy in advance. This has been dealt with in detail. The section on etiology and management aspects of Intrauterine Growth Retardation (IUGR) covers investigation and management of suspected or known fetal abnormalities, placental failure, and fetal growth retardation. Prenatal diagnostic procedures had limited access and safety so far, but this is a thing of the past today, especially after the advent of real-time ultrasonography. It brings an increasingly clearer visualization of the intrauterine space and has vastly broadened the scope for fetal diagnosis and treatment. The currently available ultrasound-guided procedures for fetal diagnosis and therapy are discussed at length in the chapter invasive ultrasound procedures. The discussed invasive ultrasound procedures include amniocentesis, cordocentesis, and chorionic villus sampling, done to detect neural tube defects, fetal lung maturity, and chromosomal abnormalities. The controversies surrounding the evaluation of fetal anomalies by ultrasound procedures are covered at length which we expect would be of special interest to the readers. Opinions abound as well as differ on the interpretation of the findings and counseling of couples, based on the same. This section focuses on the implications of missed fetal anomalies in this background and its impact on pregnancy outcome.

The management of medical disorders in pregnancy has undergone significant changes in the recent years. The pattern of disease has changed with improvements in socio-economic conditions. For example, the incidence of antenatal anemia has decreased progressively in the past few decades, and pulmonary tuberculosis (which used to be prevalent) is now seen only rarely. Chronic rheumatic heart disease has also become less common. On the other hand, gestational diabetes has become more common. This may be due partly to the setting up of screening services for gestational diabetes in many hospitals. The four most common medical disorders complicating pregnancy are anemia, diabetes mellitus, cardiac disease, and thyroid disorders. In addition, because of the improvements in the medical, obstetric, and anesthetic management of pregnancy, many women with medical disorders can go through a pregnancy without major problems. There has also been a progressive decrease in the perinatal mortality associated with some medical disorders, such as diabetes. It is important for all healthcare professionals involved in the management of pregnant women with medical disorders to be conversant with the latest developments in order to provide the best care to these women. The chapters in this issue are certainly helpful in this respect. The eminent authors for the various chapters have discussed the various options available describing in detail their experiences regarding the various aspects of the condition.

Assisted reproduction refers to a number of advanced techniques that aid fertilization in a couple diagnosed to have reduced fertility such as in women who have irreversible damage to their fallopian tubes or cervical mucous problems. These techniques can also benefit couples with unexplained infertility. Before 1978, infertility diagnosis and treatment revolved around surgical interventions such as fallopian tube(s) repair or inserting sperms into the uterus. Thus, the management was applicable and aimed at removing the mechanical blockage that prevented the fertilization of egg. Then ca.me Louise Brown and Dr. Patrick Steptoe, a couple who were destined to be associated forever in the infertility history books forever. This is because in 1978, Dr. Steptoe made it possible for Louise to conceive in a laboratory in England with IVF. From this turning point in the science of infertility, came techniques that addressed the biochemical and hormonal aspects of infertility thus marking the beginning of a whole new subspecialty called Reproductive Endocrinology. With Dr. Steptoe’s technique, called IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), couples who otherwise had no problems that could be surgically treated now had another option. With the inclusion of Information technology in all aspects of our life, the explosion of Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) has resulted in further sophistication of additional techniques, now responsible for the existence of over 20,000 human beings a year that would never have existed. ART deals with all aspects of the science of conception, be it investigating the couple, or determining their ovarian reserve to application of the most appropriate technique to aid conception in that couple.

Even though it seems simple the ability of the mother’s body to retain and nurture the fetus, which is of a non-identical genetic makeup, throughout the gestational period requires a delicate balance of hormonal orchestration to achieve the required immunological permissiveness. The obvious outcome of a failure to achieve this is rejection of the fetal "semi-allograft", which manifests as threatened miscarriage. The occurrence of threatened miscarriage or symptoms suggestive of it is fraught with anxiety both for the patient and the obstetrician, especially if the baby is eagerly awaited. In such a situation, a correct diagnosis and prompt evaluation is imperative to start immediate interventions and prevent the expulsion of the fetus. However it is equally important to rule out the other conditions that may mimic threatened miscarriage and avoid unnecessary interventions. This clinical update handbook attempts to address these and other issues associated with this potentially elusive condition. The first chapter serves to give a concise yet relevant overview about this topic. The various modes of presentation as well as the management protocol are elaborately covered in the second chapter. The chapter on Diagnostic Modalities explains how the risk factors and investigative findings can be used to predict and make an early diagnosis of the condition. It has also touched upon the other conditions that mimic threatened miscarriage and how those can be differentiated from it. The role of stress and how it affects the immunomodulation which is the basis of maternal tolerance of the fetus, is explored in detail in the fourth chapter. The last chapter highlights the complications associated with inappropriate treatment of the condition and explores the adverse effects and relative safety of the recommended treatment protocol. Most of the chapters also include several case reviews that illustrate the aspects covered and are enriched with the vast repertoire of personal experience of the eminent authors.

PCOS is a complex endocrinopathy with wide-ranging variations and clinical manifestations. In the field of gynecology, the clinician is called upon to treat problems of menstrual irregularity, acne and hirsutism, infertility, obesity, and for education on long-term consequences. The mainstay of pharmacological treatment aims at ovarian suppression of androgen secretion. The most effective medical therapy for hirsutism in these cases thus appears to be antiandrogen drugs. The patients need to undergo the therapies for long periods and also understand the need of maintenance. Electrolysis and laser photothermolysis are considered the most effective cosmetic procedures. PCOS is a heterogeneous disorder and no single etiological factor fully accounts for the whole spectrum of the abnormalities in this condition. Only a few genes and mutations show considerable evidence of association with PCOS. Variable manifestation observed within PCOS patients may be due to the interaction with environmental factors with protective genomic variant and predisposing genes. The eminent authors of "Polycystic Ovary Syndrome" have enumerated the various options available described in detail their experiences regarding the various aspects of the condition.

Neonatal sepsis contributes significantly to neonatal morbidity and mortality. The incidence of neonatal sepsis as per National Neonatal Perinatal Database (NNPD 2002-2003) is 30 per 1,000 live births among intramural neonates. Among extramural neonates, sepsis accounts for nearly 40% of admissions to the NICU. It accounts for 18% of neonatal mortality among intramural neonates and nearly 40% of mortality among extramural neonates. The incidence and mortality is much higher in VLBW neonates as compared to term neonates. Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterized by systemic signs of infection and accompanied by bacteremia in the first month of life. Once bacteria gains access to the bloodstream, mechanisms are activated by the host to eliminate it. Usually, the bacteria are efficiently cleared by the monocyte macrophage system after opsonization by antibody and complement. Sometimes, however, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome is established and can progress independently of the original infection. In many patients with sepsis, it is difficult to document a bacterial cause. The term "systemic inflammatory response syndrome" includes several stages of infection ranging from sepsis, sepsis syndrome, and early septic shock to refractory septic shock, which can eventuate in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and death. Prevention of sepsis is probably the best management strategy as far as neonatal sepsis is concerned. Strategies include prevention of early-onset sepsis and prevention of late-onset sepsis. For the former, appropriate obstetric care is the key; for the latter, decreasing interventions, promoting breast feeding, and maintaining proper hand hygiene are essential.

Endometriosis is a condition that often leads to a variety of symptoms that range from pain complaints to infertility. Endometriosis is also found in women who are asymptomatic. The diagnosis of endometriosis can be made clinically with reliability similar to that of one made surgically. Medical treatment options are effective, as are surgical treatment options. Complications associated with surgery, however, push the balance in favor of medical therapy whenever possible. Based on the body of evidence available at present, women with endometriosis-related complaints should be treated with a first-line medical therapy. If that fails, a second-line medical therapy is warranted under most conditions. Laparoscopic surgery should be reserved for patients in whom second-line medical therapy has failed or is contraindicated by desire to conceive immediately or as soon as possible.

Informed choice is the right of an individual. Gynecologists have immense responsibility and a unique opportunity to guide their patients through the various milestones/changes in their life by good counseling—menarche, sexuality, pregnancy, pelvic operations, and menopause. Adolescents should be taught about safe sex practices, premarital counseling, and contraception. Preconception counseling is also important in the identification of risk factors, disease states, and potential teratogens in the pregnancy. The availability of first-trimester prenatal diagnosis and the advent of presymptomatic diagnosis by DNA analysis have created increasing opportunities to avoid disorders characterized by early death, severe disease, or irreparable mental retardation, for example, periconceptional maternal folic acid supplementation has now been shown to provide high protective effect against neural tube defects. Similarly, certain maternal diseases, including diabetes, lupus, and myotonic muscular dystrophy, impose potential maternal, fetal, neonatal, and other complications. The preconception visits provide important opportunities for intervention, avoidance, or prevention in these cases. The patients’ ethnicity and medical and genetic family history are key elements in their evaluation, whereas patients with prolonged infertility of unknown cause or recurrent spontaneous abortion may have a 3–10% risk of a parental chromosome abnormality, which may also require chromosome analysis, as do their spouses.