Perinatal and maternal outcomes in critically ill obstetrics patients with pandemic H1N1 Influenza A.

BACKGROUND: During the influenza pandemic of spring 2009, Manitoba had a disproportionate number of pregnant women who became critically ill. Information about these cases will be useful to help us understand the potential impact of future outbreaks and review critical illness in pregnancy. METHODS: We describe the clinical details of six critically ill pregnant women with pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus admitted to two ICUs in Manitoba between March 1 and August 31, 2009. RESULTS: Thirty adult pregnant women tested positive for pandemic H1N1 2009 virus in Manitoba. Six women were admitted to the ICU. The time from onset of symptoms to life-threatening deterioration was on average five days. Most patients presented with worsening fever and cough and had H1N1-positive contacts. Five of six patients (83%) were Aboriginal. Four of six cases occurred in the third trimester. These patients frequently required non-conventional ventilatory support such as high frequency ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). All patients received oseltamivir. Two patients died while in the ICU. Three of six patients had adverse perinatal outcomes, and there was one spontaneous abortion and one early preterm delivery. CONCLUSION: Pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus has the potential to cause severe illness in pregnant patients. Those patients requiring ICU admission for respiratory support have a high risk for poor fetal and neonatal outcome. The experience of this cohort underscores the appropriateness of public health measures directed at prevention and early treatment of H1N1 infection in pregnancy.

Fetal imaging and therapy for CDH-Current status.

In congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), herniation of the abdominal organs into the fetal chest causes pulmonary hypoplasia and pulmonary hypertension, the main causes of neonatal mortality. As antenatal ultrasound screening improves, the risk of postnatal death can now be better predicted, allowing for the identification of fetuses that might most benefit from a prenatal intervention. Fetoscopic tracheal occlusion is being evaluated in a large international randomized controlled trial. We present the antenatal imaging approaches that can help identify fetuses that might benefit from antenatal therapy, and review the evolution of fetal surgery for CDH to date.

Antenatal predictors of outcome in prenatally diagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypoplasia is the main cause of mortality in isolated congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and its prediction is paramount when counseling parents. We sought to identify antenatal parameters that predicted neonatal mortality in CDH. METHOD: Search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science on the ability of lung-to-head ratio (LHR), observed-to-expected LHR (o/e LHR), total fetal lung volume (TFLV), o/e TFLV, percentage predicted lung volume (PPLV) and degree of liver herniation to predict neonatal morbidity and mortality in fetuses with CDH. Primary outcome was perinatal survival and secondary was the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). RESULTS: Until April 2016, 1067 articles were found, of which 22 were included in our meta-analysis. This showed that the odds of survival with LHR <1.0 and liver herniation on ultrasound were 0.14 (CI 0.10-0.27) and 0.21 (CI 0.13-0.35) respectively. Mean LHR, o/e LHR, absolute TFLV, o/e TFLV, PPLV and liver herniation all predicted survival, however o/e LHR and o/e TFLV performed best in this prediction. When the longest diameter measurement method was used, the o/e TFLV (summary area under curve (AUC) 0.8) was slightly superior to o/e LHR (summary AUC 0.78). This difference disappeared when LHR was measured by the trace method. The most discriminatory threshold for O/E LHR and O/E TFLV was 25%. LHR <1 was predictive of extracorporeal life support (ECLS) use. CONCLUSION: O/E LHR, o/e TFLV (thresholds of 25%) and liver herniation are good predictors of mortality in CDH. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II Type of study: Systematic review and meta-analysis.