Hot Topics in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
The Congress in Naples focused on “Women’s Well-Being” Aspects of Gynaecology and Internal Medicine for the over 35: the role of prevention and the treatment of changes” ended just a few days ago and S&R Farmaceutici is ready to take part in yet another important event:
Hot Topics in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Scientific rationale
The purpose of this course is the professional updating of gynaecologists on crucial issues like screening and prenatal diagnosis, pre-term birth and complications in childbearing age.
Almost all children are born healthy, however around 3 infants out of 100 present malformations or hereditary conditions upon birth.
Some can be identified before birth through specific testing called prenatal diagnostic tests, whereas others can only be diagnosed after birth.
Before birth it is only possible to identify some diseases caused by chromosomal defects of corpuscles that carry information for the new being. Techniques can be “non invasive” (doppler ultrasonography, echocardiographs, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, biochemical tests), or “invasive” (Chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, cordocentesis). The purposes of prenatal diagnostic testing are: to provide reassurance as to foetal well-being; identify a pathology; define prognosis; estimate times, places and method of birth; enable prenatal therapies; prepare parents to welcome the baby into the world.
However, there are important limitations in diagnosis and prognosis; reliable results are not always guaranteed. Another part of the course will be dedicated to preterm birth. A preterm or premature birth is defined as one taking place between the 22nd week and the 27th week of gestational age. The duration of most pregnancies is around 40 weeks but around 10% of births occur earlier than this. A newborn child born between the 37th and 42nd week is considered full- term.
Inflammatory/ infectious aetiology is the most accredited. Such modifications appear to occur above all in the deciduo-corial junction (highly active metabolically), which by producing interleukins, triggers an increase in local prostaglandins, resulting in premature contraction of the uterus. Moreover, in response to stress, the foetus produces cortisol which reaches amniotic fluid, further increasing the production of interleukins and prostaglandin, causing a vicious cycle. Patients who undergo preterm birth present bacterial vaginosis more often, as well as a high concentration of interleukins and prostaglandins in amniotic liquid. Only rarely are signs of systemic infection present (fever, increased ESR…