Management of Cervical Incompetence with Bulging Fetal Membranes : Emergency Cerclage Versus Bed Rest / 대한주산의학회잡지

PURPOSE: To compare clinical outcomes after management with bed rest versus cerclage for treatment of amniotic sac bulging in the second trimester. METHODS: Women with cervical incompetence with membranes at or beyond a dilated external cervical os, before 27weeks of gestation, were treated with bed rest or emergency cerclage. We analyzed the pregnancy outcome retrospectively. 25 women underwent an emergency cerclege and 35 women underwent the bed rest. RESULTS: Gestational age at time of diagnosis was 22.40 weeks in the emergency cerclage and 22.39 weeks in the bed rest group. Mean interval from diagnosis until delivery was 8.65 weeks in the emergency cerclage group and 1.18 weeks in the bed rest group (p<0.001). Mean gestational age at delivery was 31 weeks in emergency cerclage group and 23.74 weeks in the bed rest group (p<0.001). Preterm delivery before 26 weeks and 34 weeks of gestation were significantly lower in the emergency cerclage group (p<0.001). Perinatal mortality was 17.4% in the emergency cerclage group and 48.6% in bed rest group (P=0.026). CONCLUSION: Emergency cerclage reduced preterm delivery before 26 and 34 weeks and improved perinatal outcome compared with bed rest treatment.

Significance of multidisciplinary counseling on prospective parents with fetus of congenital disease / 대한산부인과학회지

OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study was undertaken to analyze the anxiety of parents of prenatally diagnosed fetal congenital disease and satisfaction after the multidisciplinary counseling. METHODS: The study included 32 prospective parents of antenatally diagnosed congenital disease fetus who received multidisciplinary counseling at The Catholic Congenital Disease Center (CCDC) for the period from May, 2009 through March, 2010. The Korean version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was utilized to assess parental anxiety. Categories of satisfaction survey were classified into accessibility, professionalism, empathy, recoverability, satisfaction, and expectation after counseling. RESULTS: The mean time and number of medical professionals for each counseling were 58.0+/-36.9 min and 3.5+/-1.1 persons. Most common congenital diseases were cardiovascular (36.1%) and urogenital diseases (25.0%). STAI scores were significantly decreased after than before counseling (43.5+/-5.9 vs 36.9+/-6.0, P=0.0007). STAI scores after counseling showed significant decrease in prospective mothers who were nulliparous (P=0.0005), less than 35 years old (P=0.0014), had religion (P=0.0014) and counseled more than 40 minutes (P=0.0027). The mean rate of positive satisfactory response about multidisciplinary counseling was 85.6% in satisfaction survey. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of the positive impact on the prospective parental anxiety of a multidisciplinary counseling in prenatal management of fetal congenital diseases.

Analysis of placental pathological findings contributing to intrauterine fetal death / 대한산부인과학회지

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate placental causes of fetal death intrauterine (IUFD) bases on placental pathologic findings. METHODS: Retrospective review of 123 placental pathological reports of singleton fetal deaths from 20 weeks of gestation to 41 weeks of gestation. RESULTS: The incidences of maternal causes, fetal causes, inflammatory causes, miscellaneous and unremarkable findings were 45.5%, 28.4%, 16.2%, 23.5%, respectively. The incidence of fetal anomaly was 8.9%. Fetal anomalies were deeply related to fetal cause (P=0.000). Intrauterine growth restriction was significantly associated with maternal causes (P=0.038). CONCLUSION: No pathological guideline regarding placental examination of intrauterine fetal death exists. In future studies, a better definition of fetal death causes and associated placental pathological findings might aid clinicians in counseling, assessing the risk of recurrence and even preventing fetal death in subsequent pregnancies.