Obstetrics and Gynaecology - Research Publications
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ItemEpidemiology of pregnant patients with major trauma in Victoria(WILEY, 2021-06-23)OBJECTIVE: Trauma is one of the most common contributors to maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality. The aim of the present study was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of major trauma in pregnant patients using a population-based registry. METHODS: Registry-based study using data from the Victorian State Trauma Registry (VSTR), a population-based database of all hospitalised major trauma (death due to injury, Injury Severity Score [ISS] ≥12, admission to an intensive care unit [ICU] for more than 24 h and requiring mechanical ventilation for at least part of their ICU stay or urgent surgery) in Victoria, Australia, from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2019. Pregnant patients with major trauma were identified on the VSTR. We summarised patient data using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Over the 12-year study period, there were 63 pregnant major trauma patients. Fifty-two (82.5%) patients sustained injuries resulting from road transport collisions. The maternal survival rate was 98.4% and the foetal survival rate was 88.9%. Thoracic injury was the most common injury (25/63), followed by abdominal injury (23/63). Eighty-six percent of the third trimester patients (19/22) were transported directly to a major trauma service with capacity for definitive care of the pregnancy. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated road transport injury was the most common mechanism of injury and both maternal survival rates and foetal survival rates were high. This information is essential for trauma care system planning and public health initiatives to improve the clinical management and outcomes of pregnant women with major trauma.
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ItemPrimary HPV cervical screening: Clinical audit of outcomes of women seen at a tertiary referral centre for colposcopy in Australia(WILEY, 2021-05-07)BACKGROUND: Primary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening was introduced in Australia in December 2017. AIMS: Outcomes for women after positive HPV in their cervical screening test (CST). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational study of 4458 women seen at the Royal Women's Hospital Colposcopy Clinic from 1 January 2018 to 31 July 2020. RESULTS: HPV16/18 was positive (considered higher-risk CST) in 42.2% of women in the study, 16.6% with reflex possible with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (pHSIL) or worse and 54.9% with normal cytology. There were 24.8% of women with positive HPV16/18 who had histological confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+), 10.3% CIN2+ (including six cancers) among women with reflex negative cytology and 87.7% CIN2+ among women with reflex HSIL cytology. In women with positive HPV (not 16/18), CIN2+ was found in 60.2% with reflex pHSIL or worse cytology (higher risk) and 10.2% with reflex low-grade SIL (LSIL) or normal cytology (intermediate risk). Median waiting time to colposcopy with the intermediate-risk group went up to 181 days. Our colposcopists were able to achieve a positive predictive value (PPV) for CIN2+ of 69.9%, higher than 57.8% PPV in the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) 2020 monitoring report. Women with type 3 transformation zone on colposcopy could be followed up with CST if no HSIL was suspected on screening or at colposcopy as their risk of CIN2+ was only 2.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support direct referral to colposcopy for women with higher-risk CST, with all cancers confined to this group. The NCSP recommendation to refer for colposcopy only after three intermediate-risk CST will need monitoring with the LSIL triage group.
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ItemChanged ophthalmic workload following introduction of digital retinal photography for retinopathy of prematurity screening(WILEY, 2021-04-29)BACKGROUND: ROP screening is vital in care of premature infants but is considered burdensome, difficult and time consuming for ophthalmologists. This study assessed the reduction in workload following the introduction of nurse-led WFDRI to a large neonatal nursery. METHODS: We report a retrospective audit of 628 infants screened for ROP in the years 2010, 2013 and 2019 at the Royal Women's Hospital, Victoria. The last complete year of screening for ROP using binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO) alone (2010) was compared with two subsequent years after the introduction of nurse-led WFDRI. The main outcome measures were the time taken to report and document WFDRI and the time taken to undertake BIO examination of a premature infant and document the results. RESULTS: The ophthalmologist's time taken to conduct BIO, review images and document the results per 100 patient examinations was reduced from 16.7 hours before introduction of WFDRI to 3.7 hours. Similarly, the weekly time spent on this component of ROP screening fell from 2.3 hours per week to 0.8 and 1.0 hours per week after introduction of WFDRI. CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of nurse-led WFDRI has resulted in a dramatic and sustained reduction in ophthalmologist workload involved in ROP screening in a large Australian neonatal nursery. This may result in improved retention of the ophthalmic workforce required to undertake ROP screening.
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ItemPrognostic value of serum HE4 level in the management of endometrial cancer: A pilot study(WILEY, 2021-02-02)BACKGROUND: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) has shown promising utility as a prognostic biomarker in endometrial cancer. Increased serum HE4 levels may be associated with deeper myometrial invasion, extrauterine disease and poorer prognosis. AIM: To evaluate the use of serum HE4 level, compared to and alongside other investigations, to accurately guide management in apparent early-stage endometrial cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a single-site prospective study of 100 patients with histologically confirmed endometrial cancer. All patients underwent preoperative measurements of HE4 and CA125 levels and a preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the depth of invasion, nodal status and tumour size. Correlation was sought between serum HE4 level, CA125 level, MRI findings and intra-operative frozen section with tumour type, grade and stage. RESULTS: While both median HE4 and CA125 levels were higher with worsening clinicopathological features, serum HE4 level showed a more consistent association with high-risk features. Patients with a low-grade biopsy preoperatively and a low HE4 level (<70 pmol/L) demonstrated an 86.8% likelihood of having low-risk disease on final histopathology. In comparison, preoperative MRI or intraoperative frozen section alongside a low-grade biopsy demonstrated a similar likelihood of 86.2 and 87.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: When used in conjunction with an initial low-grade endometrial biopsy, serum HE4 level demonstrated a similar likelihood to both preoperative MRI and intraoperative frozen section in identifying low-risk disease on final histopathology. As a triaging tool this may be significant given that a preoperative, serum-based assay would likely be the least invasive, least resource-intensive and most cost-effective approach.
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ItemEarly detection of significant congenital heart disease: The contribution of fetal cardiac ultrasound and newborn pulse oximetry screening(WILEY, 2021-02-02)Fetal cardiac and newborn pulse oximetry screening has greatly facilitated the detection of cardiac abnormalities, which may be serious with potentially dire neonatal consequences. The prenatal diagnosis of a serious cardiac abnormality allows the attending obstetrician to organise the much safer in-utero transfer of the fetus for delivery at a tertiary centre, particularly if there is evidence of a duct-dependent lesion that may require the infusion of Prostaglandin E1 to maintain duct patency pending surgical intervention. Newborn pulse oximetry alerts the paediatrician that the baby may have a significant cardiac abnormality, which warrants further elucidation prior to discharge, rather than for the baby to represent unwell a few days later. Despite these advances, serious cardiac abnormalities may be missed on screening. Their detection then falls back onto the clinical acumen of the attending paediatrician/family physician to review the history, carefully elicit and evaluate the clinical signs further aided by whatever investigations that may be available at the birthing hospital, frequently less resourced than the tertiary centres. At the outset, a brief synopsis is provided of the clinical findings that may point to a cardiac abnormality. That is followed by a critical review of the accuracy of prenatal and newborn pulse oximetry screening with emphasis on the lesions that may be missed. Suggestions are made as to how to improve the diagnostic accuracy.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableImpact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Cardiovascular Testing in Asia(Elsevier BV, 2021-09)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSuccessful pregnancy outcomes following intravenous immunoglobulin treatment in a woman with a previous fetal death in utero due to gestational alloimmune liver disease: A case report.(Elsevier BV, 2022-07)Gestational alloimmune liver disease resulting in neonatal haemochromatosis is a rare but often lethal neonatal and fetal condition and is the leading cause of fetal and neonatal liver injury. Chelation-antioxidant treatment, intravenous immunoglobulin therapy and exchange transfusions, as well as liver transplantation have been used as treatments for the affected newborn at birth. In the reported case, a woman with previous neonatal death at 34 weeks of gestation due to gestational alloimmune liver disease commenced weekly doses of intravenous immunoglobulin (1 mg/kg) from 15 weeks in a subsequent pregnancy. A healthy baby boy was delivered following induction of labour at 36 weeks and 5 days of gestation. Following the same protocol, another healthy baby boy was delivered at 37 weeks of gestation. This case report emphasises the clinical utility of antenatal prophylaxis with intravenous immunoglobulin in women at high risk of recurrent gestational alloimmune liver disease.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Clinicopathologic Challenge of Nonneoplastic Vulvar Acanthosis.(Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), 2022-07-01)OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate clinicopathologic features of cases demonstrating an acanthotic tissue reaction not clearly consistent with psoriasis, lichen simplex chronicus, mycosis, or condyloma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective pathologic case series of biopsies reported as "benign acanthotic lesion" and "acanthotic tissue reaction" that lacked a clear diagnosis on expert review. Cases with nuclear atypia were excluded. Clinical and histopathologic data were collected, immunohistochemistry for p16 and p53 were obtained, and molecular testing for 28 common anogenital human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes was undertaken. RESULTS: There were 17 cases with a median age of 47 years. Unilaterality and medial location were clinical reasons for diagnostic difficulty. Histopathologic uncertainty often related to lack of papillary dermal fibrosis to support lichen simplex chronicus or psoriasiform lesions without parakeratosis, subcorneal pustules, and/or mycotic elements. Firm pathologic diagnoses were not possible, but 3 groups emerged: favoring chronic dermatitis, favoring psoriasis, and unusual morphologies. p16 results were negative or nonblock positive while p53 was normal or basal overexpressed. Human papillomavirus testing was negative in 12, low positive for HPV 16 in 1, unassessable in 3, and not requested in 1. CONCLUSIONS: There is a group of acanthotic tissue reactions that cannot be classified with standard histopathologic assessment. Further clinicopathologic research into unilateral acanthotic lesions may provide insight into separation of psoriasis and mycosis when organisms are absent. Once nuclear atypia is excluded, immunohistochemistry for p16 and p53 and HPV molecular testing do not assist in diagnostic identification.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableResuscitation of very preterm infants with 30% vs. 50% oxygen: a randomized controlled trial(Paediatrica Indonesiana - Indonesian Pediatric Society, 2022-03-01)Background Preterm infants are susceptible to the damaging effects of hyperoxia which may lead to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and intestinal damage. Hyperoxia also affects intestinal microbiota. The optimal initial FiO2 for the resuscitation of premature infants is unknown. Objective To determine the effect of different initial oxygen concentrations on BPD, oxidative stress markers, damage to the gastrointestinal mucosa, and the intestinal microbiome. Methods We conducted an unblinded, randomized controlled clinical trial in premature infants requiring supplemental oxygen in the first minutes of life. Infants started at an FiO2 of either 30% (low) or 50% (moderate), which was adjusted to achieve target oxygen saturations (SpO2) of 88-92% by 10 minutes of life using pulse oximetry. The primary outcome was incidence of BPD. Secondary outcomes included markers of oxidative stress [oxidized glutathione (GSH)/reduced glutathione (GSSG) ratio and malondialdehyde (MDA)], intestinal integrity indicated by fecal alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT), and intestinal microbiota on fecal examination. Results Eighty-four infants were recruited. There was no significant difference in rates of BPD between the 30% FiO2 and 50% FiO2 groups (42.8% vs. 40.5%, respectively). Nor were there significant differences in GSH/GSSG ratios, MDA concentrations, fecal AAT levels, or changes in facultative anaerobic and anaerobic microbiota between groups. Conclusion In premature infants resuscitated using low vs. moderate initial FiO2 levels, we find no significant differences in BPD incidence, markers of oxidative stress, intestinal mucosa integrity, or intestinal microbiota.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableFactor's that impact on women's decision-making around prenatal genomic tests: An international discrete choice survey(WILEY, 2022-04-30)OBJECTIVE: We conducted a survey-based discrete-choice experiment (DCE) to understand the test features that drive women's preferences for prenatal genomic testing, and explore variation across countries. METHODS: Five test attributes were identified as being important for decision-making through a literature review, qualitative interviews and quantitative scoring exercise. Twelve scenarios were constructed in which respondents choose between two invasive tests or no test. Women from eight countries who delivered a baby in the previous 24 months completed a DCE presenting these scenarios. Choices were modeled using conditional logit regression analysis. RESULTS: Surveys from 1239 women (Australia: n = 178; China: n = 179; Denmark: n = 88; Netherlands: n = 177; Singapore: n = 90; Sweden: n = 178; UK: n = 174; USA: n = 175) were analyzed. The key attribute affecting preferences was a test with the highest diagnostic yield (p < 0.01). Women preferred tests with short turnaround times (p < 0.01), and tests reporting variants of uncertain significance (VUS; p < 0.01) and secondary findings (SFs; p < 0.01). Several country-specific differences were identified, including time to get a result, who explains the result, and the return of VUS and SFs. CONCLUSION: Most women want maximum information from prenatal genomic tests, but our findings highlight country-based differences. Global consensus on how to return uncertain results is not necessarily realistic or desirable.