Doppler velocimetry and behavioural state development in relation to perinatal outcome in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes.

Seventy-one pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes and 100 healthy pregnancies were monitored on two occasions (between 27th-32nd and 33rd-36th week of gestation) by behavioural state analysis (1F coincidence; 2F coincidence) and umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry (UA) (Resistance Index, RI). The purpose of our study was to determine if the development of behavioural states and Doppler velocimetry: (1) differ between normal and gestational diabetic cases; (2) in gestational diabetic cases, are they related to the degree of abnormality of the maternal oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)?; and (3) are they predictors of perinatal outcome? (i.e. emergency caesarean section; low Apgar scores; respiratory distress syndrome; neonatal hypoglycaemia and neurological abnormality in the neonate and/or at 4 months of age). Our findings suggest that: (1) results on behavioral state development and Doppler velocimetry were significantly different in gestational diabetic cases; (2) infants of women with gestational diabetes who are neurologically abnormal during the newborn period, had a poor development of coincidence 2F during fetal life and had neonatal hypoglycaemia more often than infants with a normal neurological outcome; (3) in cases with abnormal neurological outcome, the maternal diabetes was more severe than in those cases with normal outcome.

Behavioural development and Doppler velocimetry in relation to perinatal outcome in small for dates fetuses.

Twenty-two small for dates (SFD) fetuses and 96 fetuses from uncomplicated pregnancies were monitored on two occasions between 27 and 32 weeks and the second time between 33 and 36 weeks of gestation by studying the development of behavioural states (coincidence 1F and 2F; no coincidence) and umbilical artery Doppler waveform patterns (UA; Resistance Index, RI). Data were related to neurological outcome at 8 months after birth. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the development of behavioural state is disturbed in SFD fetuses and if SFD fetuses who needed to be delivered early and/or had abnormal neurological outcome showed different state development and RI than SFD fetuses delivered later in pregnancy or with normal neurological outcome. Finally, we studied if there was a relationship between state development and RI. At 27-32 weeks of gestation the percentage of coincidence 2F (C2F%) was lower and the percentage of coincidence 1F (C1F%) and no coincidence (NOC%) were higher in the SFD fetuses than in the control group. At 33-36 weeks C2F% was lower and NOC% was higher but not statistically different (P = 0.2 and P = 0.07, respectively). SFD fetuses who needed to be delivered early had poorer state development than SFD fetuses at lower risk and infants who were abnormal at 8 months of life showed a higher C1F% and lower C2F% at 27-32 weeks. There were significant correlations between RI on the one hand and NOC% (r = 0.62) and C2F% (r = -0.48) on the other hand at 27-32 weeks in the subgroup with abnormal neurological outcome. In conclusion, in SFD fetuses there are disturbances in the development of behavioural states as well in the distribution of the periods of coincidence (with a decrease in C2F% and an increase in C1F%). Poorest state development is present in SFD fetuses at highest risk and in this group there appears to be a significant relationship between the degree of utero-placental insufficiency (RI) and disturbances in behavioural development.

The psoas muscle as cause of low back pain in infantile cerebral palsy.

Psoas muscle spasticity is hypothesised as a rare cause of low back pain in patients with infantile cerebral palsy. The authors describe a new manoeuvre for the study of psoas tenderness and ultrasound (US)-guided transabdominal botulinum toxin injection technique. A possible causal relationship between psoas tension and low back pain was found incidentally in two examined cases. In subsequent patients, botulinum toxin was injected and, in cases of disappearance of symptoms, the psoas tendon was sectioned at the pelvic brim with definitive disappearance of pain. The relationship between psoas tension and low back pain in patients with infantile cerebral palsy seems likely, given the result in the four patients.