Archives of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

There are many exciting developments in the field of midlife women’s health which explain how menopause symptoms, particularly hot flashes, may be an important vital sign and predictor of future health status. Additionally, in the therapeutic realm, there is a new class of medications that affect the thermoregulatory channels in the brain that control vasomotor symptoms (VMS). This development may unlock treatment options for women who cannot tolerate or cannot safely take hormone therapy.

Advanced ultrasound offers an important diagnostic clinical tool for the specialty of Obstetrics (OB) and Gynecology (GYN). The advanced ultrasound technologies, such as power Doppler angiography, with its assessment of vascular flow, adds to the described clinical benefits. The imaging technology that this represents, offers diagnostic abilities for a variety of obstetric and gynecologic conditions

Objective: To investigate the effect of low progesterone (P) level on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injection on the outcome of in vitro fertilization (IVF) with GnRH- agonist (GnRH-a) long protocol. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a reproductive medicine center of University-affiliated teaching hospital. 1115 women included were divided into two groups according to the P level: Group 1 (233 women with P level ≤ 0.5 ng/ml, and Group 2 (882 women with P level >0.5, ≤ 1.5 ng/ml). 

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer related death in the United States with mortality rates surpassing breast, prostate, brain, and colorectal cancers combined. Recent data shows that susceptibility for both men and women for developing invasive lung and bronchogenic carcinoma peak after the age of 70 years.

Chronic hypertension is present in 1-2% of pregnant women. Women with chronic hypertension are at an increased risk of maternal and perinatal complications when compared with normotensive women. It is not uncommon for the women with chronic hypertension to present first time during pregnancy and obstetricians are the first one to encounter them during antenatal checkup. Secondary hypertension is often unrecognised and misdiagnosed thus leading to improper treatment with significant risk to the mother and fetus. 

Robot assisted gynaecological surgery is exponentially expanding its field and gynaecologists need to be prepared to implement this new approach in clinical practice. Training on this new device is thus mandatory but the method by which the training is best organized remains open for debate. In 2019, 12 experts invited by the Society of European Robotic Gynaecological Surgery (SERGS), agreed on 39 recommendations about education in robot-assisted surgery (RAS) in gynaecology. 

For a long time, it was rare to see a case of cervical pregnancy (CP) throughout the journey in the field of obstetrics. Recently, the circumstances showed dramatic changes and I think not uncommonly every one elsewhere in the field may face this problem to some extent and the CP term strikes his/her ears. This may be attributed to an actual increase in CP rate that go parallel to widespread application of Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART) procedures all over the world on one hand and earlier diagnosis owing to liberal utilization and more familiarity with Transvaginal Sonography (TVS) on the other hand.

The published study Compliance and health consequences of menopausal hormonal therapy after surgical menopause: A retrospective study in Thailand showed that menopausal hormonal therapy soon after bilateral oophorectomy before the age of natural menopause in Thailand possibly prevented subsequent osteopenia compared with menopausal hormonal therapy non-users, also without significant adverse breast outcomes comparing between hormonal therapy users and non-users.

Objective: Evaluate the prevalence of anemia in term and preterm pregnancies and compare maternal and perinatal outcomes among groups. Methods: Secondary analysis of Brazilian Multicenter Study on Preterm Birth (EMIP). Cross sectional study on preterm births, with sample of term births to evaluate risk factors and comparisons. Current analysis compared prevalence of anemia in term and preterm births and among their types (spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB)

Postmenopausal hyperhidrosis (PMH) is an important differential diagnosis to vasomotor symptoms (VMS) in menopause. The objective is to describe the differences in clinical presentation and treatment of the two conditions. Patients suffering from PMH represent a unique cohort of patients with primary hyperhidrosis and should therefore not be treated in the same way as those displaying VMS during menopause.

A 33-year-old pregnant woman at 26 weeks gestation presented with abdominal pain in the right iliac fossa. She had a history of a left ovarian cyst. The current pregnancy was normal. The patient was apyretic. Laboratory testing revealed no inflammatory syndrome (leukocyte count of 10G/L and pro c reactive levels were 8 mg/L). In the absence of a diagnosis and given a non-contributory abdominal ultrasound, MRI was requested and revealed a right ovarian teratoma measuring 55 × 73 mm. 

The paper Maternal knowledge of the risk of vertical transmission and offspring acquisition of hepatitis B, recently published in Annals of Hepatology, provides unique insight on a topic not previously studied in the USA. The research paper discusses important topics on maternal hepatitis B infections.

Cancer immunotherapy relies upon the immune system recognizing and killing cancer cells. Tumors can elude recognition by readapting existing mechanisms of immune control and suppression. Here we explore the hypothesis that cancers repurpose the immune suppression employed during pregnancy to protect the allogeneic fetus. Those mechanisms are reviewed and shown to be employed both in pregnancy and by tumors.

HIV infection in pregnancy continues to be of significant clinical and public health importance [1,2]. The current statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrate that 38 million people are living with HIV in 2019, and 1.1 million (85%) pregnant women living with HIV received antiretroviral therapy (ARVs) during pregnancy and postpartum.

Since the medical management of ectopic pregnancy (EP) was introduced by Dr. Steven Ory, and published in 1986 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, diagnostic criteria have been established to predict its successful medical treatment with methotrexate (MTX), including its maximum diameter (MaxDia), its associated human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) level, and whether there was identified cardiac motion (CM).

The present study aimed to study the vaccination acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine in the Hellenic pregnant population and make a high relative analysis of the factors that contribute to decision-making concerning the acceptance of the vaccine during pregnancy. Findings could be leveraged for improving the vaccination communication strategy to pregnant women to increase the vaccination acceptance rate.

Objective: The aim of this study was to predict the selection of treatment for ectopic pregnancy (EP) using the values of platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR) and systemic immune inflammation index (SII) obtained from hematological parameters routinely used in clinical practice.

Preterm birth is one of the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The association between occurrence of preterm birth and biomarkers measured in the maternal serum maybe helpful in predicting preterm birth especially in low resource settings.

How does the risk for adverse obstetric outcomes differ among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and women with Cushing’s syndrome (CUS)? A retrospective population-based study utilizing data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project—Nationwide Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS), 2004-2014. 14, 881 deliveries to women with PCOS and 134 deliveries to women with CUS were identified.

Background: Pregnant women, fetuses, and newborns are at a higher risk of exposure to infectious diseases during outbreaks compared to other populations. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on pregnancy outcomes, as well as the impact on fetuses and newborns in Kurdistan, Iran. The study will cover the period from February 2020 to January 2021.