Urotensin 2 and Oxidative Stress Levels in Maternal Serum in Pregnancies Complicated by Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

Background and objectives: In this study, the aim was to investigate Urotensin 2 (U-II) levels and oxidant/antioxidant system parameters in pregnancies with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Materials and Methods: A total of 36 healthy, pregnant women who had not been diagnosed with IUGR and 36 pregnant women who had been diagnosed with IUGR at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinic at Gaziantep University Hospital were enrolled in this study. The serum total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), thiol-disulfide levels, U-II measurements, and oxidative stress index (OSI) calculations were carried out at the biochemistry laboratory at Gaziantep University. Results: According to this study, there was no statistically significant difference between the group with IUGR and the control group of healthy, pregnant women in terms of total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), native thiol, total thiol, disulfide, disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol, native thiol/total thiol, and U-II values. There was, however, a positive linear correlation between TOS and total thiol levels in the group with IUGR (p = 0.021, r = 0.384), and a positive linear correlation between OSI and total thiol values in the control group (p = 0.049, r = 0.330). In addition, there was a negative correlation between disulfide levels and gestational weeks at birth in the group with IUGR (p = 0.027, r = 0.369). Conclusions: Consequently, there was no significant difference between the control group and the group with pregnancies complicated by idiopathic IUGR in terms of serum oxidant/antioxidant system parameters and U-II levels. It is necessary to conduct more extensive studies evaluating placental, maternal, and fetal oxidative stress in conjunction in order to investigate the role of oxidative stress in IUGR.

The potential role of preoperative cystoscopy for determining the depth of invasion in the placenta accreta spectrum.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the role of preoperative cystoscopy in specifying the degree of placental invasion to the bladder in the placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), especially in percreta. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective observational cohort study included 78 PAS patients. All included patients underwent the preoperative cystoscopy before the cesarean hysterectomy operation. The preoperative cystoscopy procedure identified markers of PAS as neovascularization, arterial pulsatility in neovascularized zones, and posterior bladder wall bulging. Then the patients were divided into subgroups according to the histopathological results of their cesarean hysterectomy specimens. Finally, the histopathological subgroups of PAS were estimated using preoperative cystoscopy signs in the designed logistic regression analysis model. RESULTS: The preoperative cystoscopic signs such as neovascularization, the posterior bladder wall bulging, and the arterial pulsatility in neovascularized zones were approximately associated with a 17-fold [OR = 16.9 (95% CI, 5.7-49.8)], 26-fold [OR = 26.1 (95% CI, 8.17-83.8)], and 9-fold [OR = 8.94 (95% CI, 2.94-27.1)] increase in the likelihood of placenta percreta, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative cystoscopy may significantly contributions to other standard imaging modalities to identify the degree of placental invasion, especially placenta percreta. Experienced obstetricians trained in hysteroscopic visualization may safely perform this preoperative cystoscopy procedure under the guidance of a specialist urologist. Accordingly, it may be possible to estimate the degree of invasion and the course of surgery in patients with PAS using the preoperative cystoscopy procedure.