Predictive effect of thiol/disulfide homeostasis dynamics on early pregnancy viability: A case-control study.

Objective: The main aim of this study was to investigate the differences in maternal serum thiol/disulfide homeostasis among women with abortion imminens (AI), missed abortion (MA), and healthy pregnancies during the first trimester. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective case-control study. This study was conducted on pregnant women who visited the Obstetrics Clinic at University of Health Sciences Turkey, Etlik Zübeyde Hanim Gynecology Training and Research Hospital and were diagnosed with either AI or MA during the 6th to 14th weeks of pregnancy. The participants had a normal pregnancy follow-up, no chronic illnesses, and did not take any multivitamin or antioxidant supplements except for folic acid. The study incorporated 33 pregnant women with AI, 36 with MA, and 40 with normal pregnancies. Age, and body mass index were matched across the three groups. This study used a recently developed automated spectrophotometric technique to quantify thiol/disulfide concentrations. Results: The AI group had considerably elevated levels of total thiol and native thiol (SH) compared with the MA group. Nevertheless, there was no notable disparity observed between the group of healthy pregnancies and the other two groups. Serum disulfide (SS) levels did not exhibit any significant variations among the three groups. Similarly, the ratios of SS/SH, SS/total thiol, and SH/total thiol did not show any significant differences between the groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Patients with MA had decreased levels of total thiol and SH, which possess antioxidant capabilities, compared to the AI group. A decrease in antioxidant levels in the body may contribute to the etiology of MA. When considering our findings alongside existing literature, it remains inconclusive whether the serum thiol-disulfide ratio can predict a healthy pregnancy or MA following AI. Therefore, it is not yet seen as a promising diagnostic tool for assessing pregnancy viability. Additional investigation is required to establish the influence of dynamic thiol/disulfide homeostasis on early pregnancy loss.

Successful technique of manual vacuum aspiration for treatment of type 2 cesarean scar pregnancies: evaluation of 40 cases.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the defined manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) technique for treatment of type 2 cesarean scar pregnancies (CSPs). METHODS: We treated 40 patients with CSP by MVA at the Early Pregnancy Clinic of our hospital between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2014. The files of patients were reviewed and evaluated retrospectively. Eligibility criteria were hemodynamic stability and at least 2 mm myometrial thickness at the anterior part of the CSP. The key-point of successful MVA procedure is to keep away from entering the cesarean scar cavity directly; instead, CSP is displaced from the implantation site by applying vacuum, only while the cannula is passing near. RESULTS: During the study period, the ratio of CSP to total pregnancies was 1/1000. The ratio of CSP to cesarean delivery (CD) was 1/372. In that time period, CSPs were constituted 4.41% of all ectopic pregnancies. Total of 40 patients were treated with dilatation and MVA. Complications such as excessive hemorrhage, persistence of CSP, and any need of extra intervention were not observed. The beta-hCG values of 21 patients (52.5%) decreased below 10 mIU/mL after the first 15 days, and the rest decreased below 10 mIU/mL after 3 weeks following MVA. CONCLUSIONS: This MVA technique for treatment of CSP is easily applicable and effective method with high success and low complication rates. For appropriately selected patients, we think that this method can be considered as the first- line treatment.

Depression and anxiety disorder in hyperemesis gravidarum: A prospective case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the anxiety and depression status of women with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG); the risk factors for developing both depression and anxiety in women with HG were evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 women, 100 diagnosed as having HG before the 20th week of gestation at a tertiary referral center and 100 gestational-age-matched controls were enrolled. The socio-demographic data and the depression and anxiety scores, as assessed using the Beck depression and anxiety inventory were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The median depression and anxiety scores were significantly higher in the HG group compared with controls (19.5 vs. 9.0 and 22.0 vs. 10.0). Women with HG have the highest relative risks for moderate depression and severe anxiety [relative risk (RR): 16.88 and RR: 20.50, respectively]. In the univariate analysis, having HG, low education level, low income and poor social relationships were significant predictors of depression and having HG. Moreover, poor social relationships significantly predicted the presence of anxiety disorder. However, having HG and poor social relationships were found as the only independent predictors of both depression and anxiety. Patients with HG were 5.5 and 6.7 times more prone to having depression and anxiety disorder compared with controls, respectively. CONCLUSION: Both depression and anxiety disorder were more frequent in women with HG who have weak family and social relationships, lower education and income levels. Therefore, the determination of the psychological status of women with HG should be an integral part of the evaluation.

Measurements of Pupillary Diameter and Wavefront Aberrations in Pregnant Women.

Purpose. To show whether pregnancy affects the measurements of pupillary diameter and wavefront (WF) aberrations. Methods. This was a case-control study including 34 healthy pregnant women in the third trimester and age-matched 34 nonpregnant women. Only women who had no ocular abnormalities and no refractive error were included. We measured photopic and mesopic pupil diameter and WF aberrations at the third trimester and at the second postpartum month. Measurements of the right eyes were used in this study. The differences between groups were analysed by paired t-test and t-test. Results. Pregnant women's mean photopic pupil size in the third trimester was significantly higher than in postpartum period and in control group (3.74 ± 0.77, 3.45 ± 0.53, and 3.49 ± 0.15 mm, p < 0.05, resp.). Mesopic pupil size in the third trimester was also higher than in postpartum period and in control group (6.77 ± 0.52, 6.42 ± 0.55, and 6.38 ± 0.21 mm, p < 0.05, resp.). RMS-3 and RMS-5 values were higher in pregnancy but these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion. Pregnancy increased photopic and mesopic pupil size significantly but did not increase wavefront aberrations notably. Increased pupil size may be due to increased sympathetic activity during pregnancy. And this activity can be noninvasively determined by measuring pupil size.

Laparoscopic management of primary abdominal pregnancy: a case report.

This is a case report of a primary abdominal pregnancy managed by laparoscopic intervention. A 22 year old, gravida 1, woman was admitted to our emergency room with vaginal bleeding and pain in lower abdomen. She was 4 weeks pregnant according to her last menstrual period. She had undergone right salpingoophorectomy previously. Pelvic examination revealed cervical motion tenderness, bilateral adnexal tenderness and rebound tenderness. Her vital signs were normal. Beta hCG was 15826 IU/ml and hemoglobin was 10.0 g/dl. Transvaginal sonography showed an endometrium of 3 mm thickness and free fluid in the pelvis. Upon admission to the Early Pregnancy Clinic, abdominal pain became worse and hemoglobin decreased to 8.0 g/dL. Therefore, we performed a laparoscopy which showed that the uterus, left tube and ovary were completely normal with absence of the right ovary and tube. Approximately 500 cc blood was aspirated from the pelvis. Between the right sacrouterine ligament and rectum, there was a bleeding area 2 cm in width which was removed with forceps and sent for frozen pathological examination,which revealed 'placental tissue fragments'. Endometrial sampling was reported to be 'secretory endometrium'. A rapid decrease in the beta HCG post operative titer confirmed the resolution of the pregnancy. Primary abdominal pregnancy is extremely rare. The diagnosis is confirmed according to Studdiford's criteria. In the literature, there only a few cases of abdominal pregnancy in which laparoscopic procedure has been used effectively as treatment. However, laparoscopic procedure is usually successful in treatment of abdominal pregnancy if the gestational age is early enough.