Comparison of carbetocin and oxytocin infusions in reducing the requirement for additional uterotonics or procedures in women at increased risk of postpartum haemorrhage after Caesarean section.

INTRODUCTION: Postpartum haemorrhage is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity, commonly due to uterine atony. Prophylactic oxytocin use during Caesarean section is recommended; patients with a high risk of postpartum haemorrhage may require additional uterotonics or procedures. Carbetocin is a long-acting analogue of oxytocin which has shown beneficial results, compared with oxytocin. This study compared the requirement for additional uterotonics or procedures between at-risk women who underwent carbetocin infusion and those who underwent oxytocin infusion. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included women at increased risk of postpartum haemorrhage after Caesarean section for various indications in a public hospital. Women who received carbetocin infusion and women who received oxytocin infusion were compared, stratified by Caesarean section timing (elective or emergency). The primary outcome was the requirement for additional uterotonic agents or procedures. Secondary outcomes included total blood loss, operating time, rate of postpartum haemorrhage, need for blood transfusion, and need for hysterectomy. RESULTS: Of 1236 women included in the study, 752 received oxytocin first and 484 received carbetocin first. The two groups had comparable blood loss, operating time, rate of postpartum haemorrhage, requirement for additional uterotonics or procedures, need for blood transfusion, and need for hysterectomy. There was a reduction in the requirement for additional uterotonics or procedures, and in the rate of postpartum haemorrhage for women with major placenta praevia or with multiple pregnancies, following receipt of carbetocin first. CONCLUSION: Compared with oxytocin, carbetocin can reduce the requirement for additional uterotonics or procedures in selected high-risk patient groups.

The Value of Contrast-Enhanced CT in the Detection of Residual Disease After Neo-Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in predicting residual disease following neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in stage III/IV ovarian cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective observational cohort study including consecutive patients with primary stage III/IV ovarian cancer who received NACT before interval debulking surgery. CT findings before interval debulking surgerywere correlated with histological/surgical findings. Diagnostic characteristics were calculated on patient-based and lesion-based analyses. False negative results on peritoneal carcinomatosis detection were correlated with lesion size and site. RESULTS: On patient-based analysis, CT (n = 58) had a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of 92.16%, 57.14%, 94.00%, 50.00%, and 87.93%. On lesion-based analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 63.01%, 73.47%, 82.51%, 50.00%, and 66.51%. False negative results were associated with lesion size (p < 0.001). The diagnostic performance of CT on the detection of peritoneal carcinomatosis was low at the subdiaphragmatic spaces, bowel serosa and mesentery (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: CT had low negative predictive value in determining residual disease following NACT on both patient-based and lesion-based analyses, especially for non-measurable lesions and at the subdiaphragmatic spaces, bowel serosa and mesentery.

The role of laparoscopy in staging of different gynaecological cancers.

Apart from cervical and vaginal cancers that are staged by clinical examination, most gynaecological cancers are staged surgically. Not only can pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy offer accurate staging information that helps determine patients' prognosis and hence their treatment plan, but it may also provide a therapeutic effect under certain circumstances. In the past, such a procedure required a big laparotomy incision. With the advent of laparoscopic lighting and instrument, laparoscopic lymphadenectomy became popular since the late 1980s. Dargent et al. published the first report on laparoscopic staging in cervical cancers, and many studies then followed. To date, there are numerous case series and trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic surgery in managing gynaecological cancers. In general, compared with laparotomy, laparoscopic lymphadenectomy has less intraoperative blood loss and post-operative pain, fewer wound complications, shorter length of hospital stay and more speedy recovery. However, this is at the expense of longer operative time. The incidence of port-site metastasis is extremely low, although it may be higher in advanced ovarian cancer. Preliminary data showed that there was no significant effect on recurrence and survival, but long-term data are lacking. In this article, the roles of laparoscopy in staging of uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers, the three most common gynaecological cancers, will be reviewed. Novel technologies such as robot-assisted surgery, single-port surgery and sentinel node biopsy will also be discussed.

Gestational trophoblastic disease.

Most women with gestational trophoblastic disease are of reproductive age. Because the disease is readily treatable with favourable prognosis, fertility becomes an important issue. Hydatidiform mole is a relatively benign disease, and most women do not require chemotherapy after uterine evacuation. A single uterine evacuation has no significant effect on future fertility, and pregnancy outcomes in subsequent pregnancies are comparable to that of the general population, despite a slight increased risk of developing molar pregnancy again. If women develop persistent trophoblastic disease, single or combined chemotherapy will be needed. Although ovarian dysfunction after chemotherapy is a theoretical risk, a term live birth rate of higher than 70% has been reported without increased risk of fetal abnormalities. Successful pregnancies have also been reported after choriocarcinoma. Only a few case reports have been published on fertility-sparing treatment in placental-site trophoblastic tumour, and the successful rate is about 67%. Women are advised to refrain from pregnancy for at least 6 months after a molar pregnancy, and at least 12 months after a gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. Most of the contraceptive methods do not have an adverse effect on the return of fertility. Finally, at least one-half of these women suffer from some form of psychological or sexual problems. Careful counselling and involvement of a multi-disciplinary team are mandated.

The role of regular physical examination in the detection of ovarian cancer recurrence.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how ovarian recurrences were first detected and the relative role of Ca 125, symptom enquiry and physical examination in recurrence detection. METHODS: In this retrospective study, records from women with ovarian cancer recurrences diagnosed between 1999 and 2004 were reviewed to determine how the recurrences were first detected. Women were routinely followed up by a combination of symptom enquiry, physical examination and Ca 125. When recurrence was suspected, further investigations such as imaging and biopsy of the suspected recurrence would be arranged to confirm the diagnosis. The patients were followed up for a median of 53.5 months. RESULTS: Eighty patients were identified to have ovarian cancer recurrences, with median time to recurrence of 12 months. Although 41 (51%) had abnormal physical findings, only three (3.8%) first presented with physical findings and none had positive physical findings alone. Ca 125 taken at the clinic visits in these 3 patients when the signs were detected turned out to be raised. For the remaining 77 patients, 49 (61%) and 28 (35%) first presented with raised Ca 125 level and symptoms respectively. The median survival from the time of recurrence for those first presented with Ca 125, symptoms and physical findings were 25 months, 17 months and 11 months respectively. CONCLUSION: Routine physical examination had a very limited additional role and could be possibly omitted as part of the routine follow up strategy.

The use of vaginal antimicrobial after large loop excision of transformation zone: a prospective randomised trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the use of an antibacterial vaginal pessary containing tetracycline and amphotericin B would reduce complications from large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ). DESIGN: Prospective randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Hong Kong. POPULATION: A total of 321 women who underwent LLETZ. METHODS: Women were randomised to either receiving an antimicrobial vaginal pessary twice a day for 14 days after LLETZ or no medication. Before LLETZ, endocervical and high vaginal swabs were taken for the detection of Chlamydia and other pathogens. All women were given a diary to record the degree of symptoms, such as vaginal discharge, bleeding and pain for 3 weeks. These were then compared between the two groups. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Bleeding, vaginal discharge and pain after LLETZ. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the total bleeding, vaginal discharge and pain scores between the two groups. However, for women who had positive endocervical or high vaginal swabs, the treatment group had significantly less bleeding in the second week (Z=-2.083, P= 0.037) and less overall vaginal discharge (Z=-2.024, P= 0.043). CONCLUSIONS: An antimicrobial vaginal pessary containing tetracycline and amphotericin B did not provide any significant benefit after LLETZ, except for a subgroup of women with positive vaginal or endocervical swabs. Given that this group of women cannot be identified before the procedure since swabs are not routinely taken, the use of routine prophylactic topical antibiotics cannot be recommended for the general population.

Aconite poisoning in camouflage.

The Toxicology Reference Laboratory has confirmed 10 cases of aconite poisoning from March 2004 to May 2006. In four of these 10 cases, the aconite herb was not listed in the written prescription. We report these four cases to highlight the problem of 'hidden' aconite poisoning.

Full karyotyping, rapid aneuploidy diagnosis or both when invasive prenatal testing is performed for diagnosis of thalassaemia?

A retrospective study was performed to compare the detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities by different approaches of full karyotyping, rapid aneuploidy diagnosis (RAD) or both when invasive prenatal testing is performed for diagnosis of thalassaemia. The karyotype results of 1120 prenatal samples obtained from thalassaemia couples from January 1985 to December 2002 in a referral centre for prenatal diagnosis were studied. The detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities by four different approaches were compared: (i) karyotyping for all samples; (ii) RAD (21,18,13,X,Y) for all samples; (iii) RAD for all samples + karyotyping for cases with ultrasound abnormalities; and (iv) RAD (21,18,13) for all + RAD (X,Y) for cases with ultrasound abnormalities consistent with Turner syndrome + karyotyping for cases with ultrasound abnormalities. Normal karyotypes were found in 1103 samples (98.5%). There were 17 cases (1.5%) of chromosomal abnormalities: four cases (0.36%) were clinically significant, eight cases (0.7%) were of borderline clinical significance and five cases (0.44%) were not confirmed by subsequent prenatal or postnatal tests. The incidences of autosomal (7/1120 = 0.63%) and sex chromosomal (5/1120 = 0.45%) abnormalities were not higher than those (0.41 and 0.22%, respectively) from newborn surveys (Hook and Hamerton, 1977) (P = 0.398 and 0.216, respectively). Approach 1 would detect all 17 chromosomal abnormalities. Approach 2 would detect three of four clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities but not detect six of eight chromosomal abnormalities of borderline clinical significance and three of five chromosomal abnormalities not confirmed by subsequent prenatal or postnatal tests. Approach 3, in addition, would be able to detect all four clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities. Approach 4 would detect all four clinically significant chromosomal abnormalities but would not detect seven of eight chromosomal abnormalities of borderline clinical significance and four of five chromosomal abnormalities not confirmed by subsequent prenatal or postnatal tests. RAD (21,18,13) for all + RAD (X,Y) for cases with ultrasound abnormalities consistent with Turner syndrome + karyotyping for cases with ultrasound abnormalities seemed to be the best approach for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities when invasive prenatal testing is performed for diagnosis of thalassaemia.