Tehran University Medical Journal

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There are now several tests available that can assess fetal status. A series of 164 cases of high risk pregnancies were studied in order to assess predictive value of a nonstress test. The majority (36%) of patients complained about postdate pregnancy. A nonreactive test was identified in 24 of the patients (14.6%). Fetal distress, low Apgar score in 1 and 10 minutes after birth and mean of Apgar score in 5 minutes, cesarean section due to fetal distress, congenital anomalies, need of neonatal care, IUGR, abnormal presentation and perinatal death were much more common in the group of pregnancies with a nonreactive NST than in the group with reactive test. The difference was statistically significant. A reactive test was found to be a good predictor of the healthy fetus. Negative predictive value and specifity of the test were found 80% and 91.9%, respectively. The nonreactive test could identify a population at risk but it was not helpful as a stand alone modality in decision making, because of the low sensitivity and positive predictive value rates (33.3% and 58%).

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Background: Many studies have shown that periodontal pathogens are emerging as a risk factor for preterm delivery and low birth weight, but there are few studies about the relationship between other oral bacteria and pregnancy outcomes. The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between salivary bacteria and pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This cohort study was performed on 300 pregnant women who were recruited from the prenatal clinic of Zeynab Hospital in Tehran during 2009-2010. The patients’ demographic and pregnancy data were recorded. Using samplers, saliva samples were collected about one hour after breakfast. Microbial evaluation was performed by counting the bacteria based on their shape and the Gram reaction. The studied bacteria were composed of gram-positive and negative cocci, gram-positive and negative bacilli, spirilla, spirochetes, yeasts, fusiform bacteria and actinomycetes. Results: The data on the bacteriological profile and pregnancy outcome of 243 out of the 300 eligible participants of the study were completed. Five cases (2%) had intra uterine fetal death (IUFD) while 238 (98%) delivered live infants. There was a significant statistical relationship between the mean of gram-negative cocci and IUFD (P=0.04). 10 cases (4.1%) of 243, experienced adverse delivery outcomes and 233 cases (95%) had normal delivery. The adverse pregnancy outcomes had a significant relationship with the presence of spirochetes in saliva (P<0.05) but this relationship was not true for the other bacteria. Conclusion: Some oral bacteria may pose a risk for premature deliveries and low birth weights.

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Background: Normal vaginal delivery is the best method of delivery. Vaginal delivery is followed by the best pregnancy outcomes. Reducing the rate of cesarean delivery has been a health goal for the United States with economic and social advantages. This study has been conducted with aim of maternal and neonatal outcomes of Normal Vaginal Delivery (NVD) and comparing with cesarean delivery. Methods: This descriptive- analytic study was conducted in Ghaem University Hospital in Mashhad during years 2007 until 2013. Five hundred thirty six full term infants aged 3- 14 day, born either by NVD as control group or cesarean delivery as case group par-ticipated in this study. Sampling was a convenient method. The data in questionnaire containing maternal information (maternal age, mode of delivery, maternal weight, du-ration of delivery, duration of maternal hospitalization, let down reflex, breast feeding status) and neonatal information (age, sex, Apgar score, urination frequency and defe-cation frequency) were collected by a researcher. Results: According to the findings of this study, the infant’s age (P=0.425), admission weight (P=0.278), jaundice access (P=0.162), urination frequency (P=0.165), maternal weight (P=0.869) showed no statistically significant difference between two delivery methods. Time of the first breast feeding after childbirth (P=0.000), defecation fre-quency (P=0.000), maternal age (P=0.000), maternal parity (P=0.003), duration of de-livery (P=0.000), duration of maternal hospitalization (P=0.025), feeding position (P=0.029), let down reflex (P=0.012), mastitis (P=0.025) and breast problems (P=0.027) showed statistically significant difference between the groups. It means defecation frequency, duration of maternal hospitalization, Apgar score, mastitis and breast problems were more in cesarean group, but early breast feeding after delivery, duration of delivery, proper breastfeeding position and let down reflex were more in NVD group. Conclusion: The results of this study showed in comparison with cesarean delivery, normal vaginal delivery provides better outcomes in terms of breast problems, breast feeding status, duration of labor and duration of maternal hospitalization for both mother and infant. So, adopting careful instructions in management and administration of deliveries will help the prevalence of making decisions for normal vaginal delivery and the recovery of delivery outcomes.

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Background: Septate uterus is the most common congenital malformation of the uterus in normal population and also patients with recurrent abortions. Pathogenesis of the disease is incompletely elucidated. It is clarified that incomplete absorption of paramesonephric ducts in the first trimester is responsible for septum formation. Hysteroscopy is known as the standard diagnostic and therapeutic procedure for septate uterus. In this study, our aim was to evaluated the effects of hysteroscopic septal resection in improving pregnancy outcomes in patients with unexplained infertility or recurrent abortion. Methods: Prospective cohort study was conducted in a Tehran University Medical Sci-ences affiliated hospital from April 2012 to May 2013. Eight patients were excluded from the study because of non-reproductive related complains. The other 40 patients went through a prospective cohort study and were treated for septate uterus. All patients had complete history taken and underwent physical examination. Septum size was measured by hysteroscopy. Patients underwent hysteroscopic metroplasty with resectoscope with an equatorial semicircular loop cutting 12 with monopolar energy. Some septum resected by 5 french hysteroscopic scissor. The patients were visited 2 month later for evaluated surgical outcome. This assessment was done by hysterosalpingography (HSG). Patient’s reproductive outcome were followed for 10.33 (SD:±6.43) months. Results: The mean age in patients was 31.5 (SD±3.02) years. In whole, 48 patients un-derwent hysteroscopic metroplasty. In 52.1% length of septum occupied two third of uterine cavity. Eight patients were excluded from the study because of non-reproductive related complains. There were 29 pregnant patients (72.5%). Fifteen patients became pregnant without intervention (51.7%). 14 patients had pregnancy under ART, while the pregnancy did not occur in 11 patients (27.5%) during this period. Among pregnant population there were 9 miscarriage (31%), 3 preterm (13.3%) and 17 term delivery (50%). Live birth rate in our study was 68.9%. In control hysterosalpingography (HSG), no patients had adhesion or residual ridge. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that hysteroscopic septoplasty is ac-ceptable for improving reproductive outcomes in patients with septate uterus.

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Background: Last decades, we have observed major improvements in treating infertility by using microinjection. However, reduction in abortion or increase in fertility has not been significant. It seems use of corticosteroids improves clinical outcomes during assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques. Therefore, this study tried to show how corticosteroids therapy improves the results of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Methods: This semi clinical trial study without control group was included infertile women with more than one year’s infertility and were candidate to ICSI which were referred to Kosar Infertility Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences from April 2011 to September 2013. Patients received prednisolone which was started 20 mg/day from one day before embryo transfer to 7 days, then for 2 days more 1 tablet and stopped. Pregnancy outcomes were chemical and clinical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, multiple pregnancy and rate of abortion before 20 weeks. Beta human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) test was performed. Patients with positive pregnancy test were followed by sonography in 6, 12 weeks and 20 weeks of pregnancy. Results: One hundred and eighty one patients entered to the study. The mean± SD of age and fertility duration were 30.42± 6.07 and 7.69± 5.54 years. The mean± SD of transferred embryo was 4.60± 1.10 and embryo grading was 138 (44.7%) grade A, 124 (40.1%) grade B, 47 (15.2%) grade C, respectively. There were no significant difference between fresh/frozen embryo transfer in pregnancy outcomes (P> 0.05 in all of outcomes comparison). The incidence rate of biochemical pregnancy was 48.1% (87), clinical pregnancy rate with appearance of fetal heart was 44.2% (80), incidence rate of abortion before appearance of fetal heart (6 weeks) in women with intra-uterine pregnancy was 5.9% (5), incidence rate of abortion before 20 weeks was 12.9% (11). Incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy was 2.3% (2) and rate of multiple pregnancies was 32.5% (26). Conclusion: Our study suggests that the infertile patients who receive prednisolone in ICSI cycle, had improved pregnancy outcomes. Additional confirmatory studies are needed.

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Background: Pregnancy in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is still introduced as a major challenge. Consulting before pregnancy in these patients is essential in order to estimating the risk of undesirable maternal and fetal outcomes by using appropriate information. The purpose of this study was to develop an artificial neural network for prediction of pregnancy outcomes including spontaneous abortion and live birth in SLE. Methods: In a retrospective study, forty-five variables were identified as effective factors for prediction of pregnancy outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus. Data of 104 pregnancies in women with systemic lupus erythematosus in Shariati Hospital and 45 pregnancies in a private specialized center in Tehran from 1982 to 2014 in August and September, 2014 were collected and analyzed. For feature selection, information of the 149 pregnancies was analyzed with a binary logistic regression model in SPSS software, version 20 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). These selected variables were used for inputs of neural networks in MATLAB software, version R2013b (MathWorks Inc., Natick, MA, USA). A Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) network with scaled conjugate gradient (trainscg) back propagation learning algorithm has been designed and evaluated for this purpose. We used confusion matrix for evaluation. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were calculated from the confusion matrix. Results: Twelve features with P<0.05 and four features with P<0.1 were identified by using binary logistic regression as effective features. These sixteen features were used as input variables in artificial neural networks. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the test data for the MLP network were 90.9%, 80.0%, and 94.1% respectively and for the total data were 97.3%, 93.5%, and 99.0% respectively. Conclusion: According to the results, we concluded that feed-forward Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network with scaled conjugate gradient (trainscg) back propagation learning algorithm can help physicians to predict the pregnancy outcomes (spontaneous abortion and live birth) among pregnant women with lupus by using identified effective variables.

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Background: Chorionic villus sampling refers to a procedure in which small samples of placenta are obtained for prenatal genetic diagnosis, generally in the first trimester of pregnancy in 11 weeks till 13 weeks+6 days. This procedure provides prenatal diagnosis in pregnancy. Amniocentesis is a technique for windrowing amniotic fluid from the uterine cavity using a needle via a trans abdominal approach. Amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling are invasive prenatal procedure. Their complications are fetal loss vaginal bleeding, rupture of membrane chorioamnionitis and limb reduction. There are some probable predictors of fetal loss after chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis including maternal age, gestational age, number of needle insertion, previous miscarriage, and placental location. The aim of this study was to compare procedure related complications of amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling in a tertiary referral hospital in Iran.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was done in pregnant women who were high risk in genetic screening tests. The pregnancy outcome of women who underwent amniocenthesis and chorionic villus sampling was assessed in Yas Women General Hospital (Mirza Kuchak Khan), Tehran, Iran, from 2001 to 2011. Group one, pregnant women who underwent amniocentesis, was compared with group two, pregnant women that underwent chorionic villus sampling. The statistical analyses were performed with SPSSv.20 using a significant level of α<0.05.

Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in procedure related fetal loss before 24th weeks of pregnancy (1.1% in chorionic villus sampling group versus 0.6% in amniocentesis group, P=0.318). A significant relationship between the number of needle insertion in the chorionic villus sampling group and fetal loss before 24th weeks of pregnancy was seen P<0.028. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the occurrence of vaginal bleeding, rupture of membrane, pre-term birth, placenta location, low birth weight and very low birth weight. The risk of chorioamnionitis was higher in chorionic villus sampling group (P=0.019). No significant difference was observed between the liquid and bloody amniotic fluid and pregnancy complications.

Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the procedure related complications of amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.