Management of Severe COVID-19 in Pregnancy.

The scarcity of data concerning pregnant patients gravely infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) makes their management difficult, as most of the reported cases in the literature present mild pneumonia symptoms. The core problem is laying out evidence on coronavirus's implications on pregnancy and delivery, as well as vertical transmission and neonatal mortality. A healthy 30-year-old pregnant woman, gravida 6, para 4, at 31 weeks of gestation, presented severe pneumonia symptoms promptly complicated with premature rupture of membranes (PROM). A nasopharyngeal swab returned positive for SARS-CoV-2 using reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR). The parturient underwent a cesarean delivery. This paper is an attempt to outline management of the critical condition of COVID-19 during pregnancy.

Detection and initial management of gestational diabetes through primary health care services in Morocco: An effectiveness-implementation trial.

BACKGROUND: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) testing and management in Morocco is associated with delays resulting in late commencement of treatment. To reduce delays and to increase access of women to GDM care, a country-adapted intervention targeting primary health care providers was designed to test the hypothesis that detection and initial management of GDM at the primary level of care improves newborn outcomes in terms of lower birthweights and less cases of macrosomia and impacts on maternal weight gain, glucose balance and pregnancy outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in two districts of Morocco. In each district, 10 health centers were randomly selected to serve either as intervention or control sites. Pregnant women attending antenatal care in the study facilities were eligible to participate. At the intervention sites, women were offered GDM screening by capillary glucose testing following International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups/WHO criteria. Women diagnosed with GDM received counselling on nutrition and exercise and were followed up through their health center whereas at control facilities routine practice was applied. Primary outcome was birthweight and secondary outcomes maternal weight gain, glucose control and pregnancy complications. We further assessed GDM prevalence in the intervention arm. Statistical analysis was performed on 210 recruited women. Continuous variables were reported using means while categorical variables using frequencies with tests of independence applying chi-squared tests. Differences of outcome variables between the two groups were estimated by mixed-effects regression models and effect sizes adjusted for confounders. The trial is registered under NCT02979756 at ClinicalTrials.gov. RESULTS: GDM prevalence reached 23.7% in Marrakech. Birthweight in the intervention group was 147grams lower than in the control group (p = 0.08) as was the proportion of macrosomes (3.5% versus 18.4%; p< 0.001). In the intervention arm, women did two times more follow-ups than at control sites (p = 0.001) and mean follow-up intervals were shorter (11.3 days versus 18.7 days; p < 0.001). Overall, 30% more fasting blood sugar values were balanced (p = 0.005) and mean weekly maternal weight gain 49 grams lower (p = 0.032) in the intervention group. More women from control facilities had a delivery complication whereas more newborn complications were observed in women from intervention facilities. No difference between the two groups existed regarding mode of delivery and mean gestational age at delivery. One of the main limitations of the study was the Hawthorn-effect at control sites that might have led to an underestimation of the effect size. CONCLUSION: A high GDM prevalence in Morocco calls for a context-adapted screening and management approach to enable early interventions. GDM detection and care through antenatal care at primary health facilities may have positively impacted on newborn birthweight but findings are inconclusive. Results of this study will contribute to the decision on a potential upscaling of the intervention in Morocco. Future research could examine long term metabolic changes including diabetes type 2 in the cohort of women and their children.

Primary breast angiosarcoma: a rare presentation of rare tumor - case report.

BACKGROUND: Primary breast angiosarcoma is defined as malignant proliferation showing endothelial differentiation. It is a very rare tumour (0.05% of primary mammary cancers), whose diagnosis can be difficult. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the observation of a patient with no previous history, aged 27 years. The clinical examination finds a right breast discreetly increased in volume. The trucut biopsy was in favour of a lactating tubular adenoma. However, an immunohistochemical complement was requested. An absence of pancytokeratin labelling contrasted with strong expression of CD31, CD34 (endothelial markers) are described. The proliferation index (Ki67) was estimated at 30%. This led to the conclusion that the phenotypic aspect is related to a vascular proliferation that evokes an angiosarcoma. After a multidisciplinary assessment, the patient benefited from an enlarged excision of the tumour. The histopathological examination of the surgical specimen found an infiltrating mesenchymal proliferation made of vessels of variable sizes anastomosed to vascular slits with lesional limits. The immunohistochemical examination on the surgical specimen showed to the same phenotypic profile on biopsy. The final diagnosis was a high-grade mammary angiosarcoma of incomplete excision. The patient refused any additional surgical management; external radiotherapy and close supervision were prescribed. After eight months of evolution, no local or remote recurrence was reported. CONCLUSION: Primary breast angiosarcoma is a mesenchymal malignant tumour of rare vascular origin. Our observation is peculiar by the absence of any prior radiotherapy, its clinical presentation, its morpho-phenotypic characteristics, its management and its evolutive aspects.

Improving detection and initial management of gestational diabetes through the primary level of care in Morocco: protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Morocco is facing a growing prevalence of diabetes and according to latest figures of the World Health Organization, already 12.4% of the population are affected. A similar prevalence has been reported for gestational diabetes (GDM) and although it is not yet high on the national agenda, immediate and long-term complications threaten the health of mothers and future generations. A situational analysis on GDM conducted in 2015 revealed difficulties in access to screening and delays in receiving appropriate care. This implementation study has as objective to evaluate a decentralized GDM detection and management approach through the primary level of care and assess its potential for scaling up. METHODS: We will conduct a hybrid effectiveness-implementation research using a cluster randomized controlled trial design in two districts of Morocco. Using the health center as unit of randomization we randomly selected 20 health centers with 10 serving as intervention and 10 as control facilities. In the intervention arm, providers will screen pregnant women attending antenatal care for GDM by capillary glucose testing during antenatal care. Women tested positive will receive nutritional counselling and will be followed up through the health center. In the control facilities, screening and initial management of GDM will follow standard practice. Primary outcome will be birthweight with weight gain during pregnancy, average glucose levels and pregnancy outcomes including mode of delivery, presence or absence of obstetric or newborn complications and the prevalence of GDM at health center level as secondary outcomes. Furthermore we will assess the quality of life /care experienced by the women in both arms. Qualitative methods will be applied to evaluate the feasibility of the intervention at primary level and its adoption by the health care providers. DISCUSSION: In Morocco, gestational diabetes screening and its initial management is fragmented and coupled with difficulties in access and treatment delays. Implementation of a strategy that enables detection, management and follow-up of affected women at primary health care level is expected to positively impact on access to care and medical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial has been registered on clininicaltrials.gov ; identifier NCT02979756 ; retrospectively registered 22 November 2016.

[Antenatal diagnosis and management of ileal atresia]. / Atrésie intestinale iléale: diagnostic anténatale et prise en charge.

Ileal atresia is a rare congenital malformation which affects a small percentage of the population, with an incidence of 1 in 5000 cases. It may be suspected and diagnosed by ultrasound at the end of the second and third trimester. Obstetrical and surgical consultation is the key to success here. Eliminating a systemic disease with poor prognosis, fighting to reduce premature births and immediately entrusting the child to the surgeon are the main objectives to achieve. During surgery, the surgeon will determine the type of atresia, its location, single or multiple areas of occlusion and its length; thus surgery depends on etiology. Our study reports an interesting clinical case of ileal atresia diagnosed antenatall.

A new removable uterine compression by a brace suture in the management of severe postpartum hemorrhage.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a life-threatening complication of delivery. It is the leading cause of maternal mortality. During the last 15 years, several total uterine compressive sutures were described in literature. They have proven their effectiveness and safety in the management of severe PPH as an alternative to hysterectomy. We present in this paper a new technique of uterine compressive sutures based on removable uterine brace compressive sutures with compression of the uterus against the pubis. This technique may be more effective by using two mechanisms of uterine bleeding control and also may prevent uterine synechia by respecting the uterine cavity and the removal of the suture 1 or 2 days later. We also present the results of a 15 patients' series using this new suture.

Intracystic papillary carcinoma of the breast: report of three cases and literature review.

Intracystic papillary carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor of the breast. It occurs communally in postmenopausal women. Clinically it can be asymptomatic or manifested by a breast mass or a nipple discharge. On imaging intracystic papillary carcinoma has usually benign features. Pathologic diagnosis can be difficult at classical histological examination and identification of myoepithelial cells layer by immunohistochemical study can be useful. In the majority of cases of pure intracystic papillary carcinoma, conservative management is possible. Adjuvant therapy is still controversial and prognosis is excellent. We report three cases of intracystic papillary carcinoma diagnosed on immunohistochemical examination and managed with conservative surgery.

Early tracheostomy versus prolonged endotracheal intubation in severe head injury.

BACKGROUND: To see if early tracheostomy (fifth day) reduces duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, incidence of pneumonia and mortality in comparison with prolonged intubation (PI) in patients with head injury. METHODS: Patients were prospectively included in this study if they met the following criteria: isolated head injury, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score < or =8 on first and fifth day, with cerebral contusion on CT scan. On the fifth day, randomization was done in two groups: early tracheostomy group (T group, n = 31) and prolonged endotracheal intubation group (I group, n = 31). We evaluated total time of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, pneumonia incidence and mortality. Complications related to each technique were noted. Analysis of data were performed using Yates and Kruskall Walis tests. p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The two groups were comparable in term of age, sex, and Simplified Acute Physiologic Score (SAPS). The mean time of mechanical ventilatory support was shorter in T group (14.5 +/- 7.3) versus I group (17.5 +/- 10.6) (p = 0.02). After pneumonia was diagnosed, mechanical ventilatory time was 6 +/- 4.7 days for ET group versus 11.7 +/- 6.7 days for PEI group (p = 0.01). There was no difference in frequency of pneumonia or mortality between the two groups. CONCLUSION: In severe head injury early tracheostomy decreases total days of mechanical ventilation or mechanical ventilation time after development of pneumonia.