Malformation of the fetal urinary system. A new obstetrical approach.

A case of prenatal diagnosis of prune belly syndrome is described. The ultrasound presumptive diagnosis was that of low urinary tract obstruction. Neonatal mortality with this defect is estimated to be approximately 50% and mainly arises from kidney damage. In order to achieve further information for obstetrical management, intrauterine bladder evacuation was performed and fetal urine production rate monitored by ultrasound. This approach is proposed as a new method of diagnosis and temporary therapy for those fetal malformations determining urinary stasis.

Radioimmunoassayable plasma luteinizing hormone in primary amenorrhea.

PIP: Plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) was detectable by radioimmunoassay in 35 patients, all with female external genitalia, who had never menstruated spontaneously. Patients were grouped as follows: 11 with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (1 pituitary dwarf, all with normal sex chromatin) 16 with gonadal dysgenesis (5 XO, 5 XX, 2 XY, 3 mosaics), and 8 with uterovaginal atresia (normal karyotypes.) Radioimmunoassay was performed with rabbit anti-human chorionic gonadotropin labeled with iodine-125, by the polystyrene tube method, on plasma samples taken at 9-11 a.m. Hypogonadism patients had mean 9.1 mI.U. LH (range 0-18); gonadal dysgenesis patients had mean 61.5 (range 23-103); uterovaginal atresia patients had 11.9 (0-35). It was noteworthy that no overlap was observed between primary gonadal failure (gonadal dysgensis), and secondary (hypogonadism), and that LH values in 2 other patients with polycystic ovaries, LH was 16 and 34 mI.U. and FSH was not increased.^ieng