Role of cystatin C levels as an inflammatory marker in predicting endometriosis.

OBJECTIVE: Endometriosis is a common chronic inflammatory disease associated with infertility and pelvic pain. Diagnosis is based on the appearance of endometriotic lesions at the time of surgery. Our study aimed to determine whether cystatin C can be used as a predictor of endometriosis and to investigate its potential role in doing so. METHODS: The study included 45 patients with endometriosis between the ages of 18 and 40 years whose pathology results were compatible with endometriosis and were operated on, and a control group of 45 healthy women. These two groups were compared in terms of serum cystatin C levels, demographic-clinical characteristics, operation results, and other laboratory values. RESULTS: The cystatin C and hs-CRP levels of the endometriosis patients were found to be significantly higher than the control subjects (p<0.005). Whether the endometriosis disease could be detected for serum cystatin C levels was determined by the receiver operating characteristic analysis and the most appropriate positive cutoff value for cystatin C was found to be 5.14 ng/mL (86.7% sensitivity and 77.8% specificity). In the linear regression analysis, it was observed that the probability of endometriosis increased 2.5 times when cystatin C levels increased above the threshold value of 5.14 ng/mL (OR: 2.5; 95%CI 2.24-2.76). CONCLUSION: Our study shows that the serum cystatin C levels can be used as a guide for diagnosis in patients with advanced endometriosis. However, more research is needed to prove its reliability and accuracy in order to put it into practice.

Comparison of the maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnant women whose anemia was not corrected before delivery and pregnant women who were treated with intravenous iron in the third trimester.

AIM: Anemia is one of the most common problems of pregnancy. In this study, we aimed to compare the maternal and fetal outcomes in labor and delivery in women whose anemia was treated with intravenous iron and women who delivered with uncorrected anemia. MATERIALS: METHODS: This retrospective case-control study was carried out in a tertiary obstetric care center. Term (> 37 weeks), singleton, low-risk pregnant women who were admitted for delivery were evaluated. Seventy-two pregnant women who had intravenous ferric carboxymaltose treatment in the third trimester were compared with 72 women who were anemic (Hb < 10 g/dL) at the time Queryof admission for delivery. RESULTS: The groups were similar in terms of age, parity, and gestational age. The mean gestational age of the study group was 38.6 weeks. Their mean Hb of 8.2 ± 0.8 g/dL improved to 11.1 ± 1.3 g/dL prior birth. The mean Hb of the anemic group was 9.1 ± 0.5 g/dL upon admission for birth. The mean APGAR scores, admission to neonatal intensive care unit, and the rates of preterm delivery, small for gestational age, and low-birth weight infant were similar between groups. The primary cesarean section rate was significantly higher in anemic women (4.2% vs. 19.4%; p < 0.001) and the need for postpartum blood transfusion also decreased with iv iron treatment (8.3% vs. 29.2%; p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Correction of anemia with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose in the third trimester does not significantly change neonatal outcomes but it is effective in reducing maternal morbidity.