Obstetric Medicine

Pruritus is a common dermatologic complaint during pregnancy. Pruritus is reported by 23–38% of women during pregnancy, and 2% report severe pruritus. In addition to interfering with sleep and reducing overall quality of life during pregnancy, pruritus may be the first, or only, symptom of an underlying disorder that may impact maternal and fetal outcomes. It is therefore critical for all providers caring for pregnant women to be familiar with pregnancy-specific and non-specific conditions associated with pruritus to most effectively manage this unique population. In this review, we discuss clinical classification of pruritus, a practical approach to the differential diagnosis of pruritus in pregnancy, and focus on updates in the clinical features, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of pregnancy-specific causes of pruritus.

Opioid use in pregnancy has increased in parallel to the opioid crisis observed in the general population. Rising rates of peripartum opioid use pose a significant public health concern for both mothers and their children. Pregnancy also represents a unique opportunity for healthcare providers to screen women for opioid use disorder and engage them in appropriate care. In the present review, we describe patterns of opioid use in pregnancy and how this relates to maternal and neonatal health outcomes. We also examine screening for and treatment of opioid use disorder in pregnancy, neonatal outcomes following maternal opioid use, and breastfeeding recommendations for women taking opioids postpartum.

Pre-eclampsia is a leading cause of neonatal and maternal mortality and morbidity that complicates approximately 2–8% of all pregnancies worldwide. The precise cause of pre-eclampsia is not completely understood, with several environmental, genetic, and maternal factors involved in its pathogenesis and pathophysiology. An accurate predictor of pre-eclampsia will facilitate early recognition, close surveillance according to the individual risk and early intervention, and reduce the negative consequences of the disorder. Current evidence shows that no single test predicts pre-eclampsia with sufficient accuracy to be clinically useful. A combination of markers into multiparametric models may provide a more useful and feasible predictive tool for pre-eclampsia screening in the routine care setting than a test of either component alone. This review presents a summary of the current advances on prediction of pre-eclampsia, highlighting their performance and applicability. Key priorities when conducting research on predicting pre-eclampsia are also analyzed.

Maternal death secondary to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) infection in a previously well woman is described. The woman presented with an eight-day history of productive cough and shortness of breath. Rapid deterioration of respiratory function was seen following admission, with associated tachycardia, tachypnoea and hypoxia. Emergency caesarean section was performed followed by transfer to the intensive care unit. COVID-19 PCR throat swab from day 0 was positive. Later, she developed hypoxaemia refractory to mechanical ventilation, proning and paralysis. The woman was transferred for veno-venous Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation therapy but unfortunately died despite rigorous management. We review the conflicting information regarding physiological and immunological changes occurring during pregnancy and how these may affect susceptibility to respiratory viral disease. An overview of the current literature concerning ventilation and intensive care support in pregnant women suffering from COVID-19 is given. Further documentation of such cases is called for to progress understanding and management strategies.

Proteus syndrome is a rare, multi-system, genetic syndrome characterised by atypical and excessive growth of skeletal tissue. Clinical presentations include abnormal musculoskeletal growth and cutaneous lesions. Due to its rarity, there have been a limited number of published case reports of Proteus syndrome. This is the first case report on the management of Proteus syndrome in pregnancy. We present the case of a pregnant woman with Proteus syndrome in her first pregnancy in a large teaching hospital and discuss the considerations and challenges faced in her antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care.

The demand for tocilizumab is increasing in women who wish to bear children and who have active rheumatoid arthritis. Described here is a woman with rheumatoid arthritis who discontinued her tocilizumab therapy at the end of the first trimester and resumed it after delivery and where tocilizumab levels in maternal serum, infant serum, and the breast milk were measured. Tocilizumab was not detected in maternal serum just before delivery, or in umbilical cord blood or infant serum after birth. Tocilizumab levels in colostrum after intravenous injection were 0.57% of those in serum. Tocilizumab treatment in the first trimester was not associated with a significant drug level in the fetus at delivery and no fetal complications were noted .

Thiamine (vitamin B1) is a sulfur-containing, water-soluble vitamin that plays an essential role in energy metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. There is an increased need for vitamin B1 (1–1.2 mg daily) during pregnancy and lactation. Hyperemesis during pregnancy can cause severe polyneuropathy (Wernicke’s encephalopathy) as a result of thiamine deficiency. Thiamine deficiency has also been associated with beriberi. A number of atypical cases with reversible right heart failure and severe pulmonary hypertension have also been reported in non-pregnant individuals, but have never been reported in pregnancy. Here we present five such cases of thiamine deficiency with neurological and cardio-pulmonary manifestations.

Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy is rare during pregnancy and is reversible when the underlying arrhythmia is effectively treated. Management can be complex due to the risks of antiarrhythmic medications and cardiac interventions on the developing fetus. The care requires a well-coordinated multidisciplinary team of cardiologists, electrophysiologists, and maternal-fetal specialists. In this report, we describe a case of recurrent atrial tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy in pregnancy.