Medical abortion in India - An imperative need for task sharing.

Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) sale of medical abortion (MA) inducing drugs is a common practice. Exploring its impact on women's health and the barriers to avail free MA services at hospital by these women is essential to improve upon policy decision. Methods: A prospective observational study included 112 women following ingestion of MA drugs from nonformal providers. Demography, clinical details, and reasons for not availing free abortion services at hospital were recorded. Results: Among 112 women, mean age was 28.63 (SD 4.7) years. Seventy one (63.39%) women were from rural region; 70.54% were educated below high school; 44 (39.28%) had prior induced abortion; 62.5% had never used any contraception. Majority (101; 90%) took two drugs (Mifepristone and Misoprostol), 28 (25%) used correct dosage. Drugs were consumed beyond 9 weeks of gestation by 25 (22.4%) women. Abnormal vaginal bleeding was commonest 105 (93.75%) presentation. Haemorrhagic shock was noted in 21 (18.75%) women, while 21 (18.7%) women required blood transfusion. "Easy and quick availability of these drugs OTC" was the commonest statement for not attending hospital. Conclusion: Easy and quick availability of OTC drugs, distance to hospital were major barriers. Incorrect dosage and lack of gestational age calculation were two most common errors in the risk assessment protocol. Expanding provider base, by training midlevel providers, can overcome these and unmask the full potential of MA to make abortion safer.

Ultrasound assessment of fetal hearing response to vibroacoustic stimulation.

Background: Assessment of fetal responses to external stimuli could be a vital clue for understanding development of fetal neurophysiology, which is extremely challenging to explore. To study hearing development in growing human fetus, we assessed sonographic fetal movement responses to external auditory stimulus at increasing period of gestation.Method: In 123 normal pregnant women between 16 and 40 weeks' gestation, sonographic assessment of fetal movements (gross body movement, isolated limb movement, breathing movement and startle response) was carried out before and after administering vibroacoustic stimulation (VAS). Types and number of fetal movements during 5-min period each - immediately before and after application of VAS - were compared.Results: With increasing gestational age, spontaneous gross body movement decreased significantly between 16-28 and 29-40 weeks of gestation (93.3 versus 66.6%; p < .001). However, VAS significantly increased gross body movement at 29-40 weeks of gestation (66.6 versus 93.6%; p < .001). Incidence of isolated limb movement was inversely related to increasing gestational age. However, VAS was associated with significantly increase in isolated limb movement during 29-40 weeks' gestation (57.1 versus 80.9%; p = .007). VAS induced almost similar pattern of response for both fetal startle and breathing movements.Conclusions: Fetal movement responses to VAS are consistent after 28 weeks' gestation. These findings suggest fetal hearing develops at or before 28 weeks of intrauterine life.

Congenital heart disease in pregnancy in a low-income country.

OBJECTIVE: To assess maternal and perinatal outcomes among pregnant women with congenital heart disease (CHD) in a low-resource country. METHODS: A prospective, observational study was conducted at a teaching hospital in Kolkata, India, between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2010. All pregnant women with CHD were followed up from first prenatal visit to discharge. Both maternal and perinatal outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: Of 174 pregnant women with heart disease, 27 (16%) had CHD. Mean age was 23.5±3.6 years. Four (15%) patients were diagnosed with CHD during the index pregnancy. Nine (33%) women had undergone surgical correction before conception. Cesarean delivery was performed in 12 (44%) women. Fifteen (56%) neonates weighed less than 2500 g, and 4 (15%) were born preterm. Mean birth weight was slightly higher in women with corrected heart lesions than in those with uncorrected ones (2593±480 g vs 2294±620 g; P=0.22). Three (11%) neonates died, but no stillbirths occurred. One (4%) woman died after delivery owing to atonic postpartum hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Delayed diagnosis, lack of treatment, and unplanned pregnancy are major challenges for women with CHD, which need to be addressed to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes in low-resource countries.

Tuberculosis in pregnancy: the challenges for South Asian countries.

AIM: Despite tuberculosis (TB) being a global problem, maternal TB remains an unrecognized and underestimated tragedy, especially in South Asian countries. Therefore, we performed a non-systematic review regarding implications of maternal TB on obstetric and perinatal outcomes in the South Asian context. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed original studies, both descriptive and analytical, that originated from South Asian countries following an electronic search supplemented by a manual search. Although relevant studies from developed countries were reviewed, they were not included in the tabulation process because those studies had different socioeconomic/epidemiological background. RESULTS: Diagnosis of TB is often delayed during pregnancy, because of its non-specific symptoms, and overlapping presentation with other infectious diseases. Poverty, undernutrition, lack of social support and poor health infrastructure along with complications of TB and need for prolonged medications lead to increased maternal morbidity and mortality. Maternal TB in general (except lymphadenitis), is associated with an increased risk of small-for-gestational age, preterm and low-birthweight neonates, and high perinatal mortality. These adverse perinatal outcomes are even more pronounced in women with advanced disease, late diagnosis, and incomplete or irregular drug treatment. There could be a synergy of TB, socioeconomic and nutritional factors, which might have contributed to adverse perinatal effects, especially in low-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: As active TB poses grave maternal and perinatal risks, early, appropriate and adequate anti-TB treatment is a mainstay for successful pregnancy outcome. The current knowledge gaps in perinatal implications of maternal TB can be addressed by a multicenter comparative cohort study.

Pregnancy-related acute renal failure in eastern India.

OBJECTIVE: To study the causes, burden, and impact of pregnancy-related acute renal failure (PRARF) in a low-resource setting. METHODS: A prospective observational study of consecutive women admitted to the Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, Kolkata, India, with PRARF between February 1, 2007, and May 31, 2009, was conducted. The information collected included causes and predisposing conditions leading to PRARF, clinical presentations, medical and obstetric management-including need for dialysis-and maternal outcome. RESULTS: The leading causes of PRARF among the 57 participants were sepsis 19 (33.3%), hemorrhage 16 (28.1%), and hypertensive disorders 15 (26.3%). The condition occurred in 11 (19.3%) cases before 20 weeks of gestation, 6 (10.5%) cases after 20 weeks of gestation, and 40 (70.2%) cases during puerperium. Most women were from rural areas and received inadequate prenatal care. Although 40 women had PRARF during puerperium, the precipitating event mostly started during the process of labor/delivery. Despite multidisciplinary care, mortality was high (28.1%); cause-specific fatality was highest with sepsis (36.8%) and hemorrhage (25.0%). Many women who survived experienced prolonged morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy-related acute renal failure is potentially fatal but largely preventable. Universal prenatal care and greater access to emergency obstetric services, especially in rural India, could avert PRARF and its consequences.

Successful pregnancy outcome among women with end-stage renal disease requiring haemodialysis.

Pregnancy is rare in women with end-stage renal disease, and perinatal outcome remains suboptimal because of prematurity and foetal growth restriction. Successful obstetrical outcome in two women presented with chronic renal failure requiring serial haemodialysis and multiple blood transfusions during pregnancy is reported. Both women had vaginal delivery of low birth weight neonates--2100 g and 1540 g at 33 and 37 weeks' gestations respectively. With specialised neonatal care, both neonates survived, and the mothers were counselled for renal replacement therapy.

Current use of medical eponyms--a need for global uniformity in scientific publications.

BACKGROUND: Although eponyms are widely used in medicine, they arbitrarily alternate between the possessive and nonpossessive forms. As very little is known regarding extent and distribution of this variation, the present study was planned to assess current use of eponymous term taking "Down syndrome" and "Down's syndrome" as an example. METHODS: This study was carried out in two phases - first phase in 1998 and second phase in 2008. In the first phase, we manually searched the terms "Down syndrome" and "Down's syndrome" in the indexes of 70 medical books, and 46 medical journals. In second phase, we performed PubMed search with both the terms, followed by text-word search for the same. RESULTS: In the first phase, there was an overall tilt towards possessive form - 62(53.4%) "Down's syndrome" versus 54(46.6%) "Down syndrome." However, the American publications preferred the nonpossesive form when compared with their European counterpart (40/50 versus 14/66; P < 0.001). In the second phase, PubMed search showed, compared to "Down syndrome," term "Down's syndrome" yielded approximately 5% more articles. The text-word search of both forms between January 1970 and June 2008 showed a gradual shift from "Down's syndrome" to "Down syndrome," and over the last 20 years, the frequency of the former was approximately halved (33.7% versus 16.5%; P < 0.001). The abstracts having possessive form were mostly published from the European countries, while most American publications used nonpossesive form consistently. CONCLUSION: Inconsistency in the use of medical eponyms remains a major problem in literature search. Because of linguistic simplicity and technical advantages, the nonpossessive form should be used uniformly worldwide.

Pelvic tuberculosis in a postmenopausal woman mimicking ovarian malignancy--a clinical dilemma.

A 72-year-old postmenopausal woman presented with dyspepsia, weight loss, abdominal pain, and ascites. Ultrasonography revealed a pelvic mass and evidence of pyometra. Serum CA-125 was raised. Paracentesis revealed lymphocytic exudate but no malignant cells or acid-fast bacilli. However, after drainage of pyometra endometrial curettings revealed epithelioid granuloma with acid-fast bacilli. She had complete recovery with full course of antituberculosis treatment. Thus, pelvic tuberculosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of ovarian malignancy, which can prevent many unnecessary laparotomies.

Emergency contraception and prevention of induced abortion in India.

OBJECTIVE: Induced abortion is associated with high morbidity and mortality in India. Use of regular contraception with emergency contraception (EC) as backup can reduce the incidence of induced abortion. The study aimed to assess women's knowledge, practice, preference and acceptance of different contraceptive methods with special reference to the causes of induced abortion, and their willingness to use hormonal EC. METHODS: The study comprised a structured questionnaire survey conducted in the family planning clinic of a tertiary teaching hospital in New Delhi, India. A total of 623 women and three men seeking contraceptive advice and/or termination of pregnancy were interviewed. The main outcome measures were knowledge of different contraceptive methods including EC and the reasons for unintended pregnancy. RESULTS: More than 99% of the respondents knew about most of the modern methods of contraception whereas only 37 (5.9%; 95% CI 4.0-7.8) of the respondents knew about EC and none of them had ever used it. Contraceptive method failure led to unintended pregnancy in 39.1% (95% CI 33.7-44.5) of abortion seekers. Correct use of EC could have prevented nearly 65.5% (95% CI 57.0-74.0) of induced abortions due to contraceptive method failure and 25.6% (95% CI 20.7-30.5) of all induced abortions. CONCLUSIONS: More efforts are required to generate awareness about the safety, efficacy and availability of EC, regular use of effective contraception and the health hazards of induced abortion.