Pregnancy-related comorbidities and labor induction - the effectiveness and safety of dinoprostone compared to misoprostol.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the presence of the disease in pregnancy influences the effectiveness and safety of delivery preinduction with prostaglandins: misoprostol vaginal insert and dinoprostone vaginal gel. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is aretrospective cohort study conducted of 560 pregnant women. The concomitant diseases mainly recorded were diabetes mellitus, hypertensive diseases, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, asthma, thrombocytopenia, and hypothyroidism. The primary study outcome was a successful vaginal delivery. The study above others evaluates the time from treatment implementation to the beginning of a labor and to a final delivery, the rate of Cesarean sections, and the presence of delivery complications. RESULTS: Among women with a concomitant disease, Caesarean section was observed more frequently in the misoprostol group. In the dinoprostone group, mothers with the concomitant disease as compared to healthy mothers required more time to the delivery and to achieve the beginning of labor. There were no differences in postpartum complications regardless of the prostaglandins, comorbidities or mothers' age. Neonates of mothers ≥ 35 years old with concomitant disease had lower average Apgar scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that comorbidities seem to increase the caesarean section risk in the misoprostol preinduction group but in the dinoprostone group they prolong the time needed to achieve an active labour phase and a delivery.

Comparison of Misoprostol versus Dinoprostone for delivery induction among pregnant women without concomitant disease.

OBJECTIVES: Induction of labour is a part of an active prenatal care nowadays and the ideal method of that procedure still remains to be identified. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of misoprostol vaginal insert as compared to dinoprostone gel for delivery induction in pregnant women without any comorbidities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: It was a retrospective cohort study of 240 pregnant women. The primary study outcome was successful delivery. Other analysed parameters included time to delivery of a baby, time to the beginning of the first stage of labour, time to vaginal delivery, and duration of all delivery stages. We compared both methods regarding maternal complications during and after delivery. We also reviewed neonatal outcomes such as birth weight, birth length and 1-minute Apgar scores. RESULTS: The patients' basic characteristics were similar regarding their age, gravidity, parity, height, weight and Bishop score. Time to any delivery and to the onset of a labour in the misoprostol group versus in the dinoprostone group was 14.5 vs 35.6 h (p < 0.001) and 9.9 h vs 25.3 h (p < 0.001) respectively. The chance of the beginning of labour and the baby's delivery over time has been observed to be approximately two times higher for misoprostol as compared to dinoprostone. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that using misoprostol vaginal insert in comparison to dinoprostone seems to shorten the time to beginning of the first stage of labour as well as the time to the delivery itself. Some lower Apgar scores observed in the misoprostol group requires further investigation.

Analysis of intravaginal misoprostol 0.2 mg versus intracervical dinoprostone 0.5 mg doses for labor induction at term pregnancies.

OBJECTIVES: Labor-induction methods are used in about 23% of labors. Most commonly, pharmacological methods are used to pre-induct the labor with dinoprostone - a PGE2 analog, and misoprostol - a PGE1 analog. The aim of this study was to evaluate two pharmacological methods of labor induction with the use of prostaglandins applied via an intravagi-nal insert containing misoprostol at a dose of 0.2 mg and intracervical gel containing dinoprostone at a dose of 0.5 mg. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on a group of 50 adult patients qualified for the pre-induction of labor. Following data were recorded: the time from the drug administration to the beginning of regular contractile function, the time from administration to amniotic fluid rupture, the time from medicament administration to the vaginal labor or caesarean section, the duration of I, II and III stages of labor, the delivery method and in the event of caesarean section - the indications for surgery. RESULTS: In comparison to dinoprostone, the misoprostol application was found to shorten the time from drug administration to amniotic fluid rupture by 14.1 hours, the time to the beginning of the first stage of labor by 11.7 hours and from the drug administration to the delivery by 17.3 hours (p-value < 0.05). The duration of the first stage of labor in the misoprostol group was shorter by 1.2 hours than in dinoprostone group (p-value < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Application of intravaginal insert with misoprostol at a dose of 0.2 mg appears to be a more effective method of labor induction in comparison to intracervical gel with dinoprostone at a dose of 0.5mg. Thorough analysis of these methods requires further studies.

[The rapture of the spleen in a pregnant women with twins and HELLP syndrome: a case report].

The blunt abdominal trauma causes the liver and spleen injury mostly. The rupture of the spleen can also be caused by infectious diseases (mononucleosis), hematologic diseases (Non-Hodgin Lymphoma), rheumatologic diseases (Wegener's granulomatosis) or diseases of the spleen (splenic hemangioma, splenic artery aneurysm). Also the spontaneous rupture of the spleen can occur. In the literature we can find descriptions of the spontaneous splenic rupture during pregnancy and puerperium period. In the differential diagnosis of the bleeding into the peritoneal cavity, all possible causes, including those less frequent as spontaneous rupture of the spleen, should be taken into account. In the presented case report we describe the case of splenic rupture after caesarean section performed on a woman in a twin pregnancy with HELLP syndrome.

Doppler velocimetry of the materno-fetal circulation in preterm delivered pregnancies complicated with hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the most frequent complications of pregnancy. Due to high risk of morbidity and mortality in both mothers and children, it is necessary to continuously monitor the pregnancy, principally with biophysical methods. Particularly, doppler velocimetry of the materno-fetal circulation proves useful. THE AIM of the study was to assess the usefulness of doppler test in monitoring the condition of the foetus in preterm delivered pregnancy complicated with hypertension. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The retrospective analysis comprised the data of 116 women who delivered prematurely at the Clinics of the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in the years 2006-2007, resulting in creation of Group I involving 38 pregnant women with preeclampsia, and Group II of 36 women whose pregnancy was complicated with gestational hypertension. Control group was formed of 42 women with correct arterial blood pressure. When describing the groups, the differences in the birth weight and Apgar score were indicated. RESULTS: A significant statistical difference was found in the area of pulsation rate in the umbilical artery and cerebro-placental ratio (CPR). In the case of preterm delivery complicated with arterial pressure disorders, the foetus is characterised with worse organic perfusion and slower somatic growth than if no concomitant hypertension is present. Hypertension forms an additional risk factor in the course of preterm delivery, and doppler velocimetry is a good method for monitoring the condition of the foetus, as it allows for detection of irregularities and for implementation of relevant treatment to improve the newborn's condition at birth.

Pregnancy course and neonatal outcome after exposure to leflunomide--2 cases report and review of literature.

Leflunomide (LMF) is an immunemodulatory drug used in the therapy of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). After oral administration in the mucosa of digestive tract LMF is quickly converted to an active metabolite A77126 which is a competitive inhibitor of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase--enzyme required in pirymidyne synthesis resulting in decreased proliferation of T and B lymphocytes. As animal studies showed A77126 embryo- and fetotoxity and no relevant epidemiological research in humans were available, LMF received category X pregnancy destination. This is a detailed presentation of two pregnancy cases during LMF therapy in Poland. The first patient was a multiparous woman suffering from RA for 17 years and treated with LM during the last 16 months. The second woman was a primigravida with RA diagnosed 4 years ago and treated with LMF for the last 20 months. LMF wash-out procedures were started immediately as the patients referred with diagnosed early pregnancies with oral administration of 8g of cholestyramine tid for 11 days. After completing the procedure the patients were referred to the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department. The first pregnancy successfully finished with a vaginal delivery of a completely healthy, female newborn of 2540g at the 41st gestational week and the second patient also delivered vaginally a healthy female newborn of 3200g at 39th week of pregnancy.