Is there hyperviscosity in Pre-eclampsia?

There are conflicting reports on blood viscosity and its determinants in pre-eclampsia. We investigated the presence of hyperviscosity and its determinants in 24 nulliparous, pre-eclamptic Jamaican women. An equal number of non-pre-eclamptic, gestation-matched women served as controls. There was no statistically significant difference in whole blood, plasma and serum viscosities, as well as their determinants, namely, haematocrit, fibrinogen, IgM and IgG concentrations between the pre-eclamptic and control groups. This suggests that hyperviscosity is not a feature of pre-eclampsia in this Jamaican population.

The hypertensive diabetic pregnancy

Hypertension (Htn), is a condition describing the presence of a consistently elevated blood pressure in an individual, and diabetes mellitus (DM), is a heterogeneous condition due to defective production or action of insulin and characterised by a state of hyperglycemia. The two types of diabetes are chronic medical conditions with varying prevalence depending on the population studied. Pregestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) and chronic (essential) hypertension (CH) are associated with tissue damage resulting in complications, the most severe of which results in vascular disease. In the pregnant woman these entities occur either separately or together and are associated with a significant increase in both maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The other entities of concern are gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) with or without proteinuria.

Evaluation of transabdominal ultrasonography for ectopic pregnancy

Ultrasound examination was performed on 66 patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy. Of 23 women who had the diagnosis confirmed at laparotomy, 16 (69.6 per cent ) were correctly identified on ultrasound, 4 were reported as unliklely ectopic pregnancies and 3 were undetermined. Two patients with false negative ultrasound reports had positive findings on the ultrasound, but the findings were misinterpreted. Correct identification of these would have increased the true positive rate to 78.3 per cent and decreased the false negative rate to 8.8 per cent . There were 5 false positive reports due to overian cysts.

Large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) an alternative treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

The technique of large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) as an alternative to destructive/ablative method of treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) such as cryotherapy, laser vaporization and cone biopsy of uterine cerix is assessed. Forty-five patients underwent this procedure for either diagnostic or therapeutic reasons. It was well-tolerated, and minor bleeding occurred in 4.4 per cent of patients. The quality of the histological specimen was excellent in all cases, only two showing evidence of charring artefacts. In 11 patients (24.4 per cent ), a more serious lesion was detected than that found at punch biopsy of the cervix. This method offers a cheaper and more effective alternative to laser vaporization and combines the benefits of the gold standard cone biopsy of the cervix with that of local ablative techniques.