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Frontiers in Endocrinology 2023Hysteroscopic adhesiolysis is widely performed in women with intrauterine adhesions. Small observational studies have reported the obstetric and neonatal outcomes, but... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Hysteroscopic adhesiolysis is widely performed in women with intrauterine adhesions. Small observational studies have reported the obstetric and neonatal outcomes, but studies with larger sample sizes are few. The aim of this study is to evaluate the obstetric and neonatal outcomes in women after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis.
METHODS
We conducted a literature search in July 2022 using the PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases, and finally, 32 studies (N = 3812) were included. We did a meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of placenta-related disorders, including placenta previa, placental abruption, placenta accreta, placenta increta, and retained placenta. We also included other obstetric and neonatal outcomes like postpartum hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy, oligohydramnios, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes mellitus, and intrauterine growth restriction. The results were presented as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in studies with a control group, but otherwise as prevalence (%) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
RESULTS
The overall pregnancy and live birth rates were 58.97% and 45.56%, respectively. The prevalence of placenta previa differed in pregnant women who underwent hysteroscopic adhesiolysis compared with those who did not (OR, 3.27; 95% CI, 1.28-8.36). In studies without a comparative group, the pooled rate of placenta accreta was 7% (95% CI, 4-11) in 20 studies; placenta increta was 1% (95% CI, 0-4) in 5 studies; a retained placenta was 11% (95% CI, 5-24) in 5 studies; postpartum hemorrhage was 12% (95% CI, 8-18) in 12 studies; ectopic pregnancy was 1% (95% CI, 0-2) in 13 studies; oligohydramnios was 3% (95% CI, 1-6) in 3 studies; intrauterine growth restriction was 3% (95% CI, 1-8) in 3 studies; gestational hypertension was 5% (95% CI, 2-11) in 4 studies; and diabetes mellitus was 4% (95% CI, 2-7) in 3 studies.
DISCUSSION
Due to the paucity of good quality comparative data, the question of whether there is an increased prevalence of obstetric and neonatal complications in women after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis compared with the general population remains unanswered. The findings from this review will provide a basis for more well-designed studies in the future.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=364021, identifier [CRD42022364021].
Topics: Infant, Newborn; Pregnancy; Humans; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation; Placenta Previa; Postpartum Hemorrhage; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced; Placenta, Retained; Oligohydramnios; Placenta; Pregnancy, Ectopic
PubMed: 37033233
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1126740 -
PloS One 2019The number of studies associating the use of sildenafil in gestation is increasing. This drug inhibits phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5), an enzyme responsible for... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
The number of studies associating the use of sildenafil in gestation is increasing. This drug inhibits phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5), an enzyme responsible for degradation of nitric oxide, and its efficacy is greater in the placental territory, as the maternal side of the placenta have more PDE5 than other sites. For this reason, promising results have been observed related to the prevention of preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction and to improvement of maternal-fetal morbidity in cases of placental insufficiency.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the benefits of using sildenafil in pregnancy.
SEARCHED STRATEGY
MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Embase, LILACS and Cochrane databases were searched through September 2018. There was no restriction in language or year of publication. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42017060288).
SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized clinical trials which used sildenafil for treatment or prevention of obstetric diseases compared with placebo were selected.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The results were obtained using the inverse variance method for continuous variables and Man-Whitney for categorical variables.
MAIN RESULTS
Among a population of 598 pregnant women from the seven clinical trials included, 139 had pre-eclampsia, 275 had intrauterine growth restriction, and 184 had oligohydramnios. A significant increase of 222.58 grams [27.75 to 417.41] was observed in the fetal weight at birth of patients taking sildenafil. The other outcomes did not show any statistical significance. This may be due to the small number of patients used in each study and the great heterogeneity between the groups.
CONCLUSIONS
Sildenafil could be associated with increasing fetal weight at birth in placental insufficiency despite the limitations of this meta-analysis, even though more studies in this field are needed to introduce this drug into obstetric clinical practice.
Topics: Birth Weight; Delivery, Obstetric; Female; Fetus; Gestational Age; Headache; Humans; Infant; Infant Mortality; Labor, Obstetric; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome; Publication Bias; Risk; Sildenafil Citrate; Umbilical Arteries
PubMed: 31339910
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219732 -
Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2024: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of demographic data, fetal imaging findings and urinary analytes were used for predicting poor postnatal renal function in children... (Review)
Review
: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of demographic data, fetal imaging findings and urinary analytes were used for predicting poor postnatal renal function in children with congenital megacystis. : A systematic review was conducted in MEDLINE's electronic database from inception to December 2023 using various combinations of keywords such as "luto" [All Fields] OR "lower urinary tract obstruction" [All Fields] OR "urethral valves" [All Fields] OR "megacystis" [All Fields] OR "urethral atresia" [All Fields] OR "megalourethra" [All Fields] AND "prenatal ultrasound" [All Fields] OR "maternal ultrasound" [All Fields] OR "ob-stetric ultrasound" [All Fields] OR "anhydramnios" [All Fields] OR "oligohydramnios" [All Fields] OR "renal echogenicity" [All Fields] OR "biomarkers" [All Fields] OR "fetal urine" [All Fields] OR "amniotic fluid" [All Fields] OR "beta2 microglobulin" [All Fields] OR "osmolarity" [All Fields] OR "proteome" [All Fields] AND "outcomes" [All Fields] OR "prognosis" [All Fields] OR "staging" [All Fields] OR "prognostic factors" [All Fields] OR "predictors" [All Fields] OR "renal function" [All Fields] OR "kidney function" [All Fields] OR "renal failure" [All Fields]. Two reviewers independently selected the articles in which the accuracy of prenatal imaging findings and fetal urinary analytes were evaluated to predict postnatal renal function. : Out of the 727 articles analyzed, 20 met the selection criteria, including 1049 fetuses. Regarding fetal imaging findings, the predictive value of the amniotic fluid was investigated by 15 articles, the renal appearance by 11, bladder findings by 4, and ureteral dilatation by 2. The postnatal renal function showed a statistically significant relationship with the occurrence of oligo- or anhydramnion in four studies, with an abnormal echogenic/cystic renal cortical appearance in three studies. Single articles proved the statistical prognostic value of the amniotic fluid index, the renal parenchymal area, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measured on fetal diffusion-weighted MRI, and the lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO) stage (based on bladder volume at referral and gestational age at the appearance of oligo- or anhydramnios). Regarding the predictive value of fetal urinary analytes, sodium and β2-microglobulin were the two most common urinary analytes investigated (n = 10 articles), followed by calcium (n = 6), chloride (n = 5), urinary osmolarity (n = 4), and total protein (n = 3). Phosphorus, glucose, creatinine, and urea were analyzed by two articles, and ammonium, potassium, N-Acetyl-l3-D-glucosaminidase, and microalbumin were investigated by one article. The majority of the studies (n = 8) failed to prove the prognostic value of fetal urinary analytes. However, two studies showed that a favorable urinary biochemistry profile (made up of sodium < 100 mg/dL; calcium < 8 mg/dL; osmolality < 200 mOsm/L; β2-microglobulin < 4 mg/L; total protein < 20 mg/dL) could predict good postnatal renal outcomes with statistical significance and urinary levels of β2-microglobulin were significantly higher in fetuses that developed an impaired renal function in childhood (10.9 ± 5.0 mg/L vs. 1.3 ± 0.2 mg/L, -value < 0.05). : Several demographic data, fetal imaging parameters, and urinary analytes have been shown to play a role in reliably triaging fetuses with megacystis for the risk of adverse postnatal renal outcomes. We believe that this systematic review can help clinicians for counseling parents on the prognoses of their infants and identifying the selected cases eligible for antenatal intervention.
PubMed: 38611669
DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics14070756 -
American Journal of Obstetrics &... Jun 2024Counseling of pregnancies complicated by pre- and periviable premature rupture of membranes to reach shared decision-making is challenging, and the current limited... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
OBJECTIVE
Counseling of pregnancies complicated by pre- and periviable premature rupture of membranes to reach shared decision-making is challenging, and the current limited evidence hampers the robustness of the information provided. This study aimed to elucidate the rate of obstetrical and neonatal outcomes after expectant management for premature rupture of membranes occurring before or at the limit of viability.
DATA SOURCES
Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases were searched electronically up to September 2023.
STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Our study included both prospective and retrospective studies of singleton pregnancies with premature rupture of membranes before and at the limit of viability (ie, occurring between 14 0/7 and 24 6/7 weeks of gestation).
METHODS
Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cohort studies. Moreover, our study used meta-analyses of proportions to combine data and reported pooled proportions. Given the clinical heterogeneity, a random-effects model was used to compute the pooled data analyses. This study was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews database (registration number: CRD42022368029).
RESULTS
The pooled proportion of termination of pregnancy was 32.3%. After the exclusion of cases of termination of pregnancy, the rate of spontaneous miscarriage or fetal demise was 20.1%, whereas the rate of live birth was 65.9%. The mean gestational age at delivery among the live-born cases was 27.3 weeks, and the mean latency between premature rupture of membranes and delivery was 39.4 days. The pooled proportion of cesarean deliveries was 47.9% of the live-born cases. Oligohydramnios occurred in 47.1% of cases. Chorioamnionitis occurred in 33.4% of cases, endometritis in 7.0%, placental abruption in 9.2%, and postpartum hemorrhage in 5.3%. Hysterectomy was necessary in 1.2% of cases. Maternal sepsis occurred in 1.5% of cases, whereas no maternal death was reported in the included studies. When focusing on neonatal outcomes, the mean birthweight was 1022.8 g in live-born cases. The neonatal intensive care unit admission rate was 86.3%, respiratory distress syndrome was diagnosed in 66.5% of cases, pulmonary hypoplasia or dysplasia was diagnosed in 24.0% of cases, and persistent pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed in 40.9% of cases. Of the surviving neonates, the other neonatal complications included necrotizing enterocolitis in 11.1%, retinopathy of prematurity in 27.1%, and intraventricular hemorrhage in 17.5%. Neonatal sepsis occurred in 30.2% of cases, and the overall neonatal mortality was 23.9%. The long-term follow-up at 2 to 4 years was normal in 74.1% of the available cases.
CONCLUSION
Premature rupture of membranes before or at the limit of viability was associated with a great burden of both obstetrical and neonatal complications, with an impaired long-term follow-up at 2 to 4 years in almost 30% of cases, representing a clinical challenge for both counseling and management. Our data are useful when initially approaching such patients to offer the most comprehensive possible scenario on short- and long-term outcomes of this condition and to help parents in shared decision-making. El resumen está disponible en Español al final del artículo.
Topics: Humans; Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture; Pregnancy; Female; Fetal Viability; Infant, Newborn; Pregnancy Outcome; Gestational Age; Cesarean Section; Watchful Waiting; Abortion, Induced
PubMed: 38648897
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2024.101370 -
Health Technology Assessment... Feb 2021Currently, pregnant women are screened using ultrasound to perform gestational aging, typically at around 12 weeks' gestation, and around the middle of pregnancy....
BACKGROUND
Currently, pregnant women are screened using ultrasound to perform gestational aging, typically at around 12 weeks' gestation, and around the middle of pregnancy. Ultrasound scans thereafter are performed for clinical indications only.
OBJECTIVES
We sought to assess the case for offering universal late pregnancy ultrasound to all nulliparous women in the UK. The main questions addressed were the diagnostic effectiveness of universal late pregnancy ultrasound to predict adverse outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of either implementing universal ultrasound or conducting further research in this area.
DESIGN
We performed diagnostic test accuracy reviews of five ultrasonic measurements in late pregnancy. We conducted cost-effectiveness and value-of-information analyses of screening for fetal presentation, screening for small for gestational age fetuses and screening for large for gestational age fetuses. Finally, we conducted a survey and a focus group to determine the willingness of women to participate in a future randomised controlled trial.
DATA SOURCES
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library from inception to June 2019.
REVIEW METHODS
The protocol for the review was designed a priori and registered. Eligible studies were identified using keywords, with no restrictions for language or location. The risk of bias in studies was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Health economic modelling employed a decision tree analysed via Monte Carlo simulation. Health outcomes were from the fetal perspective and presented as quality-adjusted life-years. Costs were from the perspective of the public sector, defined as NHS England, and the costs of special educational needs. All costs and quality-adjusted life-years were discounted by 3.5% per annum and the reference case time horizon was 20 years.
RESULTS
Umbilical artery Doppler flow velocimetry, cerebroplacental ratio, severe oligohydramnios and borderline oligohydramnios were all either non-predictive or weakly predictive of the risk of neonatal morbidity (summary positive likelihood ratios between 1 and 2) and were all weakly predictive of the risk of delivering a small for gestational age infant (summary positive likelihood ratios between 2 and 4). Suspicion of fetal macrosomia is strongly predictive of the risk of delivering a large infant, but it is only weakly, albeit statistically significantly, predictive of the risk of shoulder dystocia. Very few studies blinded the result of the ultrasound scan and most studies were rated as being at a high risk of bias as a result of treatment paradox, ascertainment bias or iatrogenic harm. Health economic analysis indicated that universal ultrasound for fetal presentation only may be both clinically and economically justified on the basis of existing evidence. Universal ultrasound including fetal biometry was of borderline cost-effectiveness and was sensitive to assumptions. Value-of-information analysis indicated that the parameter that had the largest impact on decision uncertainty was the net difference in cost between an induced delivery and expectant management.
LIMITATIONS
The primary literature on the diagnostic effectiveness of ultrasound in late pregnancy is weak. Value-of-information analysis may have underestimated the uncertainty in the literature as it was focused on the internal validity of parameters, which is quantified, whereas the greatest uncertainty may be in the external validity to the research question, which is unquantified.
CONCLUSIONS
Universal screening for presentation at term may be justified on the basis of current knowledge. The current literature does not support universal ultrasonic screening for fetal growth disorders.
FUTURE WORK
We describe proof-of-principle randomised controlled trials that could better inform the case for screening using ultrasound in late pregnancy.
STUDY REGISTRATION
This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42017064093.
FUNDING
This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in ; Vol. 25, No. 15. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.
Topics: Cost-Benefit Analysis; Female; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Mass Screening; Parity; Pregnancy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Ultrasonography
PubMed: 33656977
DOI: 10.3310/hta25150 -
Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Innovations,... Aug 2020The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of serial amnioinfusion therapy (SAT) for pulmonary hypoplasia in lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO) or...
Serial Amnioinfusion as Regenerative Therapy for Pulmonary Hypoplasia in Fetuses With Intrauterine Renal Failure or Severe Renal Anomalies: Systematic Review and Future Perspectives.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of serial amnioinfusion therapy (SAT) for pulmonary hypoplasia in lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO) or congenital renal anomalies (CRAs), introduce patient selection criteria, and present a case of SAT in bilateral renal agenesis. We conducted a search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for articles published from database inception to November 10, 2017. Eight studies with 17 patients (7 LUTO, 8 CRA, and 2 LUTO + CRA) were included in the study. The median age of the mothers was 31 years (N=9; interquartile range [IQR], 29-33.5 years), the number of amnioinfusions was 7 (N=17; IQR, 4.5-21), gestational age at first amnioinfusion was 23 weeks and 4 days (N=17; IQR, 21-24.07), gestational age at delivery was 32 weeks and 2 days (N=17; IQR, 30 weeks to 35 weeks and 6.5 days), birthweight of newborns was 3.7 kg (N= 9; IQR, 2.7-3.7 kg), Apgar score at 1 minute was 2.5 (N=8; IQR, 1-6.5), and Apgar score at 5 minutes was 5.5 (N=8; IQR, 0-7.75). In conclusion, SAT may provide fetal pulmonary palliation by reducing the risk of newborn pulmonary compromise secondary to oligohydramnios. Multidisciplinary research efforts are required to further inform treatment and counseling guidelines. We propose a multidisciplinary approach to prenatal classification of fetuses with LUTO to inform patient selection.
PubMed: 32793867
DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2020.04.008 -
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology Jan 2024To evaluate the strength of the evidence for, and the extent of, overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions.
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the strength of the evidence for, and the extent of, overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions.
STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING
We systematically searched for studies investigating overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions. Using the 'Fair Umpire' framework to assess the evidence that cases diagnosed by one diagnostic strategy but not by another may be overdiagnosed, two reviewers independently identified whether a Fair Umpire-a disease-specific clinical outcome, a test result or risk factor that can determine whether an additional case does or does not have disease-was present. Disease-specific clinical outcomes provide the strongest evidence for overdiagnosis, follow-up or concurrent tests provide weaker evidence, and risk factors provide only weak evidence. Studies without a Fair Umpire provide the weakest evidence of overdiagnosis.
RESULTS
Of 132 studies, 47 (36%) did not include a Fair Umpire to adjudicate additional diagnoses. When present, the most common Umpire was a single test or risk factor (32% of studies), with disease-specific clinical outcome Umpires used in only 21% of studies. Estimates of overdiagnosis included 43-45% of screen-detected acute abdominal aneurysms, 54% of cases of acute kidney injury, and 77% of cases of oligohydramnios in pregnancy.
CONCLUSION
Much of the current evidence for overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions is weak. Application of the framework can guide development of robust studies to detect and estimate overdiagnosis in noncancer conditions, ultimately informing evidence-based policies to reduce it.
Topics: Female; Pregnancy; Humans; Medical Overuse; Overdiagnosis; Risk Factors
PubMed: 37952702
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.11.005