Challenges of prenatal diagnosis in obese pregnant women

Obesity rates are increasing world-wide with most of the increase in women of the reproductive age group. While recognised as an important contributor to non-communicable diseases, pregnant women with obesity are particularly at risk of not only maternal and pregnant complications but also have an increased risk of congenital malformations. Furthermore, pregnant obese women are more likely to be older and therefore at a greater risk of aneuploidy. Prenatal diagnosis in these women especially those who are morbidly obese is challenging due not only to their weight but the implications of the increase adiposity on biochemical markers of aneuploidy. In this review we discuss the current challenges in providing prenatal diagnosis for these women including those related to the ergonomics of ultrasound and those inherent in them because of their obesity. Appropriate counselling for these women should include the lower sensitivity of the tests, the difficulties in performing some of the procedures (imaging and invasive testing) as well as the increased risk of structural abnormalities related to their obesity.

The role of diffusion-weighted MRI in the accurate diagnosis of vertebral compression fractures: A comparative study

INTRODUCTION

Accurately distinguishing between benign and malignant vertebral compression fractures is crucial for clinical management. This study evaluated the predictive accuracy of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in differentiating the cause of vertebral fractures using MRI.

METHODS

A longitudinal cross-over study was conducted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi from July 2018 to January 2021. Patients with vertebral compression fractures underwent T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and DWI imaging with ADC mapping on a 1.5 T MRI scanner. Imaging findings were compared with histopathologic results and clinical follow-up. Sensitivity, specificity, and ROC curve analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The study enrolled 303 patients with a mean age of 43.6 ± 10.9 years, of whom 118 were male. DWI demonstrated high accuracy in predicting the cause of vertebral compression fractures, with a sensitivity of 96.2 %, a specificity of 76.2 %, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.857. The optimal ADC cut-off value was 0.82 × 10˄-3 mm˄2/s, which yielded a positive predictive value of 79.7 % and a negative predictive value of 95.4 %.

CONCLUSIONS

DWI is a safe and non-invasive imaging modality with excellent predictive accuracy in differentiating between benign and malignant vertebral compression fractures. Iso- or hypointensity of collapsed vertebral bodies on DWI suggests a benign lesion, while T2-weighted hyperintensity is highly indicative of malignancy. Low signal on ADC is also highly indicative of malignant vertebral fractures. Incorporating DWI improves accuracy in assessing vertebral lesions, especially when standard sequences are inconclusive.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

DWI revolutionizes vertebral compression fracture diagnosis, distinguishing between benign and malignant cases. This precision guides treatment decisions, minimizing the necessity for invasive procedures like biopsy. As a safe and reliable imaging method, DWI elevates patient care, ensuring accurate diagnostics and improved outcomes.

Treatment Tolerance and Toxicity in Elderly Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients and Implication on Outcomes

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

To investigate the tolerance level and toxicity for standard of care treatment for oropharyngeal cancer (OP) in elderly patients and their impact on outcomes.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Using our in-house head and neck cancer database, we looked for non-metastatic OP cases that received definitive treatment between 1/2009-6/2020. All patients received either definitive radiation therapy (RT) +/- concomitant systemic therapy (ST), or surgery followed by adjuvant RT or RT-ST. For the elderly (age at diagnosis ≥65 years) and young (<65 years) patients, we compared treatment package time (TPT) (time from surgery to RT conclusion) for adjuvant RT, total RT duration and unplanned RT interruptions. ST details and dose/protocol modifications were also compared. We evaluated worst grade of pain and mucositis, hospitalization for non-hydration causes and febrile neutropenia (FN) during RT. Feeding tube (FT) use and weight loss were compared. The independent effect of these indicators on locoregional (LRFS), distant (DRFS) recurrence free and overall (OS) survival was assessed using multivariate analyses (MVA).

RESULTS

A cohort of 326 patients was included: 36% elderly (n = 118) and 64% young (n = 208), with no differences in AJCC stage distribution (8th), treatment received and HPV status (HPV+ve: 73% vs 74.6%; p = 0.86). In 23.6 % who received adjuvant RT, median TPT was 86 (range 72-128) and 81 (65-137) days for elderly vs young (p = 0.27); whereas in the definitive RT cases 76.4%, total RT duration was 49 days for both age groups. Overall, prescribed RT course was not completed in 4% and unplanned RT interruptions occurred in 22.8% and both were non-significant between age groups. Among the 261 patients that received ST, elderly utilized more cetuximab (26 vs 12%; p = 0.007). For those who received cisplatin, 20% of elderly had cumulative dose <200 mg/m2 compared to 6% among the younger age group (p = 0.006); and cisplatin was changed to carboplatin or cetuximab in 18% vs 8% (p = 0.019). Delayed/cancelled cycles and dose reductions were similar. There were more hospitalizations (47% vs 27%; p<0.001) and a trend for more FN (9% vs 3%; p = 0.09) with older age, while worst pain and mucositis was similar. FTs were used more in elderly patients (64% vs 50%; p = 0.02), for a median of 97 vs 64 days (p = 0.31); of which 19.5% vs 11% (p = 0.28) were inserted before RT start. However, % weight loss was non-significant. On MVA, longer RT duration, FT use and hospitalizations predicted worse LRFS and DRFS; and they were prognostic for OS in addition to TPT >90 days (p<0.05 for all). Nevertheless, elderly vs young had non-significant 3-year LRFS (91% vs 90% and 67% vs 69%), DRFS (86% vs 90% and 79% vs 81%) & OS (85% vs 81% and 39% vs 52%) for HPV+ve and HPV-ve respectively (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Elderly patients with OP need more multi-disciplinary supportive care when receiving RT and concurrent ST. However, survival outcomes are equivalent to younger patients. Ongoing studies should enroll more elderly candidates and stratify endpoints with age.

Multi-Institutional Validation of the Recursive Partitioning Analysis for Overall Survival in Patients Undergoing Spine Radiosurgery for Spine Metastasis

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

The recently published spine radiosurgery (sSRS) recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) for overall survival (OS) separated patients into 3 distinct prognostic groups. We sought to externally validate this RPA using 3 separate multi-institutional datasets.

MATERIALS/METHODS

A total of 444 patients were utilized to develop the recently published sSRS RPA predictive of OS in patients with spine metastases. The RPA identified three distinct prognostic classes. RPA Class 1 was defined as KPS >70 and controlled systemic disease (n = 142); RPA Class 2 was defined as KPS>70 with uncontrolled systemic disease or KPS ≤70, age ≥54 and absence of visceral metastases (n = 207); RPA Class 3 was defined as KPS ≤70 and age <54 years or KPS≤70, age ≥54 years and presence of visceral metastases (n = 95). We utilized data from 3 large tertiary care centers to independently validate this RPA. Data from each institution was utilized independently to validate the RPA to minimize confounding based on institutional differences in patient selection. A total of 1,184 patients (221 patients from institution A, 749 institution B, and 214 from institution C) were in the validation cohort and were divided based on their RPA Class. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate OS and log-rank test was used to compare OS between RPA classes.

RESULTS

In each of the validation cohorts, the median OS was 19.9 months (institution A), 11.0 months (institution B), and 24.4 months (institution C). The patient distribution into RPA classification based on Institution A/B/C was, Class 1 (19.4%, 15.1%, 50.5%), Class 2 (74.7%, 57.7%%, 37.9%), and Class 3 (5.9%, 27.2%%, 11.2%), respectively. The median OS for patients in the validation cohort at Institution A/B/C based on RPA class was Class 1 (54 months, 27.1 months, 50.0 months), Class 2 (15.9 months, 13.0 months, 15.1 months) and Class 3 (6.9 months, 3.5 months, 6.1 months), respectively. Patients in RPA Class 1 had a significantly better OS compared to those in Class 2 of the each of the three external institution validation cohorts (p<0.01). Similarly, patients in RPA Class 2 had a significantly better OS compared to those in Class 3 (p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

The external datasets from three large institutions independently validated the spine SRS RPA successfully for OS in patients undergoing sSRS for spinal metastases. This is the first RPA for OS to have been externally validated using multiple large datasets. Based on this validation, upfront spine SRS is strongly supported for patients in RPA Class 1 and Class 2 and is also cost effective with median OS >11 months for these patients. Patients in RPA Class 3 would benefit most from upfront conventional radiotherapy given their poor expected survival. Given successful external validation, this RPA helps guide physicians to identify those patients with spinal metastases who most benefit from sSRS.

Definitive and Salvage Radiotherapy Compared to Other Modalities for Laryngeal Carcinoma in Situ

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

We sought to analyze survival endpoints for laryngeal carcinoma in situ (CIS) undergoing definitive radiotherapy (RT) compared to other modalities.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Usingour prospectively maintained head and neck cancer database, we identified laryngeal CIS patients treated between 6/2001 and 12/2021. We excluded low-grade dysplasia, CIS with any synchronous invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) within 3 months of the initial CIS biopsy and cases with inadequate follow up. Patients were offered either definitive RT, CO2/KTP laser ablation, photodynamic therapy (PDT) or any sort of therapeutic excision. After first line treatment, follow-up includes visits every 3-6 months with laryngoscopy and biopsies as appropriate. For recurrent CIS beyond 6 months of first line treatment, we reported salvage therapies received and long-term outcomes were reported. Using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank test we investigated recurrence free (RFS), progression to invasive SCC free (IFS) and overall (OS) survival across treatment groups. Patients managed with salvage RT were compared to first line RT recipients.

RESULTS

Atotal of 85 CIS cases were included: median age 65 years (IQR: 55-74), 73 males (85%) and 70 white (82.4%). 86% had a history of smoking with median pack year of 38 (IQR: 20-55) and 66% had a history of alcohol use. CIS was glottic in most of the cases (90.6%: 66% unilateral, 21% bilateral & 13% involved commissure); with only 9.4% in the supraglottic region. RT was used in 49.4% (n = 42) after biopsy (55%) or surgery (45%) with median dose of 63 Gy/28 fractions, mainly by 3D conformal RT (76%). The remaining 50.6% (n = 43) got therapeutic excision alone (commonly microflap excision) (46.5%), CO2/KTP laser (32.6%) or PDT (20.9%). Demographics and clinicopathological details were non-different between RT and non-RT patients except for Charlson comorbidity index: median 2 (IQR 1-3) in non-RT vs 1 (IQR 0-2) in 1ry RT; p = 0.007. After a median follow-up of 4.8 years (IQR 3.5), 51.8% had recurrent disease, 21.2% progressed to invasive SCC and 9.4% had laryngectomies mainly for invasive SCC after RT. First line RT had improved 2-(83% vs 39%) and 5-(74% vs 22%) year RFS vs non-RT therapies (p<0.001). Nevertheless, 2- and 5-year IFS (89% vs 98% and 80% vs 79%) and OS (92% vs 93% and 81% vs 77%) were non-significant among both (p>0.05 for all). Among non-RT cases with CIS recurrences, 12/35 (34%) had salvage RT. Following RT, salvage RT patients had similar 2- and 5-year RFS (81% vs 83% and 81% vs 74%) and IFS (81% vs 89% and 81% vs 80%) compared to first line RT (p>0.05 for all). All cases with CIS recurrences were salvaged successfully with 100% living with no CIS at latest follow-up.

CONCLUSION

Laryngeal CIS can be treated with a wide range of modalities including 1ry RT which has better recurrence free survival. Nevertheless, non-RT recurrent CIS can be salvaged successfully with many options including RT with equivalent long-term results.

Feasibility of Using Zero-Shot Learning in Transformer-Based Natural Language Processing Algorithm for Key Information Extraction from Head and Neck Tumor Board Notes

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Natural language processing (NLP) technology has the potential to automate information aggregation and summarization in oncology. One example is the automation of patient registry creation. In this work, we aim to show (1) the feasibility of using modern NLP algorithms to extract key information from tumor board notes, and (2) the impact of prompt engineering on the quality of the results.

MATERIALS/METHODS

In this IRB-approved study, we obtained the texts of head and neck tumor board notes for 306 unique patients. Five key pieces of information used to create a patient registry were predefined: age, gender, tumor histology, tumor stage, and primary location. The NLP algorithm used was a modified Text-To-Text Transfer Transformer (T5) model that was initially trained on the Colossal Clean Crawled Corpus (C4) dataset and subsequently fine-tuned on the Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) to perform the downstream task of extractive question answering. The NLP model and trained weights were obtained from the Hugging Face platform. During inference, the entire body of the tumor board note and a related question were fed as inputs, and the model predicted a sequence of texts in response to the question. Two sets of questions of similar semantic meanings were used. Questions in prompt set #1 included "What is the gender?", "What is the age?", "What is the type of carcinoma in pathological diagnosis?", "What is the stage?", and "Where is the carcinoma located at?". Questions in prompt set #2 include "Is the patient male or female?", "How old is the patient?", "What kind of cancer?", "What is the cancer stage?", and "What is the tumor location?". Each model-predicted response was compared to the ground truth extracted from the tumor board notes. A response was classified as true if it is consistent with the ground truth, otherwise, it was deemed false. The response accuracy for each question was subsequently calculated.

RESULTS

The median number of words in each tumor board note was 448 (range, 219 - 1505). The accuracy of the NLP algorithm for each question from either set is reported in Table 1. Algorithm performance is higher for extracting objective information such as age, gender, and histology. In addition, it was found that questions of similar semantic meanings but with different wording can lead to significantly different results.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated that a transformer-based extractive question-answering NLP algorithm can be successfully used for extracting information from head and neck tumor board notes with zero-shot learning. Furthermore, our results highlight the significance of prompt engineering for applying NLP for this task. Future work on finetuning these algorithms to oncology-specific texts can potentially enhance algorithm performance for more difficult tasks.

Disease Characteristics, Treatment and Survival for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Elderly

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Incidence of oropharyngeal cancers (OP) has been increasing over the past few decades, mainly driven by human papilloma virus (HPV) associated cancers in younger men. However, a large number of OP patients in recent years are ≥65 years of age. We wanted to determine if there is a difference in outcomes in elderly patients with OP as compared to younger patients.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We queried our institutional prospectively maintained head and neck cancer database for patients with non-metastatic OP treated between 1/2009-6/2020. We excluded patients who did not receive any definitive treatment. We analyzed clinicopathological and treatment characteristics for elderly (age at diagnosis ≥65 years) compared to young (<65 years) across HPV subtypes. We also studied survival endpoints among age groups using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank test. Independent predictors were estimated using multivariate (MVA) Cox regression models for each HPV subtype.

RESULTS

We identified 340 patients who met our inclusion criteria: elderly 123 (36%) and young 213 (64%). The proportion of elderly HPV+ve patients showed an increasing trend over the years studied. Median age was 70 years (range 65-91) in elderly and 56 years (38-64) in young (p<0.001); and HPV+ve/-ve were 73.2/26.8% vs 74.6/25.3% for both age groups respectively (p = 0.86). Elderly patients had higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and included more divorcees (p<0.05). There were more elderly current/former smokers (97% vs 82%; p = 0.007) within HPV-ve cases. Definitive radiotherapy (RT) +/- systemic therapy (CRT) was utilized in 73.2% (n = 249), while the remainder had surgery +/- adjuvant RT/CRT. There was no difference with age for OP subsite, 8th edition AJCC stage and treatment received except for more use of cetuximab (22.5% vs 10.2%; p<0.001) and weekly cisplatin (32.4% vs 25.8%; p<0.001) among elderly patients. After a median follow up of 5.24 years (IQR: 3.53), 3-year overall (OS) (HPV+ve: 85 vs 81%; HPV-ve: 39 vs 52%), locoregional free (LRFS) (HPV+ve: 86 vs 90%; HPV-ve: 67 vs 69%) and distant metastasis free (DMFS) survival (HPV+ve: 91 vs 90%; HPV-ve: 79 vs 81%) were all non-significant for elderly vs young respectively. On MVA, CCI and AJCC stage for HPV+ve; and smoking, T-stage and lymphovascular space invasion for HPV- were associated with OS. For HPV+ve, AJCC stage, adjuvant vs definitive RT and treatment in later years were predictive of better LRFS, whereas smoking index and extracapsular space invasion were deterministic for DMFS. Interestingly, outcomes among those who received cetuximab was similar to those who received concurrent cisplatin for all endpoints.

CONCLUSION

We did not note any significant difference in outcomes among elderly patients treated for OP when compared to the younger patients when multi-disciplinary head and neck cancer care is provided. This was noted even though a significantly larger proportion of elderly patients received cetuximab concurrent with RT as opposed to standard of care cisplatin.

Direct current cardioversion in pregnancy: a multicentre study

OBJECTIVE

Direct current cardioversion (DCCV) in pregnancy is rarely required and typically only documented in single case reports or case series. A recent UK confidential enquiry reported on several maternal deaths where appropriate DCCV appeared to have been withheld.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Seventeen UK and Ireland specialist maternity centres.

SAMPLE

Twenty-seven pregnant women requiring DCCV in pregnancy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Maternal and fetal outcomes following DCCV.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven women had a total of 29 DCCVs in pregnancy. Of these, 19 (70%) initial presentations were to Emergency Departments and eight (30%) to maternity settings. There were no maternal deaths. Seventeen of the women (63%) had a prior history of heart disease. Median gestation at DCCV was 28 weeks, median gestation at delivery was 35 weeks, with a live birth in all cases. The abnormal heart rhythms documented at the first cardioversion were atrial fibrillation in 12/27 (44%) cases, atrial flutter in 8/27 (30%), supraventricular tachycardia in 5/27 (19%) and atrial tachycardia in 2/27 (7%). Fetal monitoring was undertaken following DCCV on 14/29 (48%) occasions (10 of 19 (53%) at ≥26 weeks) and on 2/29 (7%) occasions, urgent delivery was required post DCCV.

CONCLUSIONS

Direct current cardioversion in pregnancy is rarely required but should be undertaken when clinically indicated according to standard algorithms to optimise maternal wellbeing. Once the woman is stable post DCCV, gestation-relevant fetal monitoring should be undertaken. Maternity units should develop multidisciplinary processes to ensure pregnant women receive the same standard of care as their non-pregnant counterparts.

Pregnancies in women with Turner Syndrome: A retrospective multicentre UK study

OBJECTIVE

To determine the characteristics and outcomes of pregnancy in women with Turner Syndrome DESIGN: Retrospective 20-year cohort study (2000-2020) SETTING: 16 tertiary referral maternity units in the UK POPULATION OR SAMPLE: 81 women with Turner syndrome who became pregnant METHODS: Retrospective chart analysis MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mode of conception, pregnancy outcomes RESULTS: We obtained data on 127 pregnancies in 81 women with a Turner phenotype. All non-spontaneous pregnancies (54/127 (42.5%)) were by egg donation. Only 9/31 (29%) of pregnancies in women with karyotype 45,X were spontaneous, compared with 53/66 (80.3%) with mosaic karyotype 45,X/46,XX (p<0.0001). Women with mosaic 45,X/46,XX were younger at first pregnancy by 5.5-8.5 years compared to other TS-karyotype groups (p<0.001), and more likely to have a spontaneous menarche (75.8% vs 50% or less, p=0.008). There were 17 miscarriages, 3 terminations of pregnancy, 2 stillbirths and 105 livebirths. Two women had aortic dissection (2.5%); both were 45,X karyotype, with bicuspid aortic valves and ovum donation pregnancies, one died. Another woman had an aortic root replacement within six months of delivery. 10/106 (9.4%) births with gestational age data were preterm and 22/96 (22.9%) with singleton birthweight/gestational age data weighed <10^th centile. The caesarean section rate was 72/107 (67.3%). In only 73/127 (57.4%) of pregnancies was there documentation of cardiovascular imaging within 24 months prior to conceiving.

CONCLUSIONS

Pregnancy in women with TS is associated with major maternal cardiovascular risks and deserve thorough cardiovascular assessment and counselling prior to assisted or spontaneous pregnancy managed by a specialist team.

Peripartum considerations and challenges in the management of type IV Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is an uncommon heterogenous autosomal dominant multisystemic connective tissue disorder, which may potentially present with life-threatening emergencies. The prevalence of EDS of all subtypes is from 1 in 10 000 to 1 in 20 000. Pregnancy in women with type IV EDS poses significant challenges, necessitating the care of multidisciplinary team. Potential complications of type IV EDS include arterial dissection, arterial aneurysm, visceral rupture, excessive bleeding, tissue fragility and delayed wound healing. We present an interesting case of a pregnant woman with type IV EDS who had previous cerebrovascular complications and had a successful delivery in our tertiary centre following a collaborative approach to her care.

COVID-19 complicated by hepatic dysfunction in a 28-week pregnant woman

The COVID-19 outbreak has spread across the globe at an alarming rate. As the pandemic escalates, experience of COVID-19 in pregnant women is accumulating. We present a case of COVID-19 pneumonia in a 28-week pregnant woman with a known low lying placenta. The patient had deranged liver function tests at presentation, along with elevated bile acids. We discuss the differential diagnosis of these findings, and the possible mechanisms of hepatic injury in COVID-19. The low lying placenta in this patient meant that we had to carefully consider the application of recommendations for thromboprophylaxis in pregnant COVID-19 patients. With supportive management, this patient improved enough to be discharged, and has gone on to deliver a healthy neonate at term.

1201 Performance Evaluation Of A Novel Contactless Breathing Monitor And Machine Learning Algorithm For Sleep Stage Classification In A Healthy Population

Introduction

Although polysomnography (PSG) remains the gold standard for sleep assessment in a lab setting, non-EEG signals such as respiration and motion are directly affected by sleep stages and can be used for sleep stage prediction. Importantly, these signals can be obtained in a low-cost and unobtrusive manner, allowing for large scale and longitudinal data collection in a home environment. The Circadia C100 System (FDA 510(k) clearance expected Q1 2020) is a novel ‘nearable’ device that uses radar for contactless monitoring of respiration and motion. The current study aims to validate the performance of the associated sleep analysis algorithm.

Methods

A total of 41 nights of sleep data were recorded from 33 healthy participants using the device, alongside PSG. Data were recorded both in a sleep lab and home environment. PSG data were scored by RPSGT-certified technicians. Respiration and movement features were extracted, and machine learning algorithms were developed to perform sleep stage classification and predict sleep metrics. Algorithms were trained and validated on PSG data using cross-validation.

Results

An epoch-by-epoch true positive rate of 56.2%, 79.4%, 55.5% and 72.6% was found for ‘Wake’, ‘REM’, ‘Light’ and ‘Deep’ respectively. No statistical differences in performance were found between home-recorded and lab-recorded contactless data. Mean absolute error of total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep efficiency (SE) was 13.2 minutes, 11.3 minutes and 3%, respectively. The contactless monitor was found to outperform both medical grade and clinical grade actigraphy based devices: The Philips Actiwatch Spectrum Plus and the Fitbit Alta HR.

Conclusion

Current results are encouraging and suggest that the contactless monitor could be used for long-term sleep assessment and continuous evaluation of sleep therapy outcomes. Further clinical validation work is ongoing in subjects diagnosed with sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea.

Support

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Maternal and neonatal outcomes in women with history of coronary artery disease

Background

Pregnancy outcomes in women with pre-existing coronary artery disease (CAD) are poorly described. There is a paucity of data therefore on which to base clinical management to counsel women, with regard to both maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Method

We conducted a retrospective multicentre study of women with established CAD delivering at 16 UK specialised cardiac obstetric clinics. We included pregnancies of 24 weeks’ gestation or more, delivered between January 1998 and October 2018. Data were collected on maternal cardiovascular, obstetric and neonatal events.

Results

79 women who had 92 pregnancies (94 babies including two sets of twins) were identified. 35.9% had body mass index >30% and 24.3% were current smokers. 18/79 (22.8%) had prior diabetes, 27/79 (34.2%) had dyslipidaemia and 21/79 (26.2%) had hypertension. The underlying CAD was due to atherosclerosis in 52/79 (65.8%), spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) in 11/79 (13.9%), coronary artery spasm in 7/79 (8.9%) and thrombus in 9/79 (11.4%).

There were six adverse cardiac events (6.6% event rate), one non-ST elevation myocardial infarction at 23 weeks’ gestation, two SCAD recurrences (one at 26 weeks’ gestation and one at 9 weeks’ postpartum), one symptomatic deterioration in left ventricular function and two women with worsening angina. 14% of women developed pre-eclampsia, 25% delivered preterm and 25% of infants were born small for gestational age.

Conclusion

Women with established CAD have relatively low rates of adverse cardiac events in pregnancy. Rates of adverse obstetric and neonatal events are greater, highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary care.

Maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by Marfan syndrome

OBJECTIVES

Information to guide counselling and management for pregnancy in women with Marfan syndrome (MFS) is limited. We therefore conducted a UK multicentre study.

METHODS

Retrospective observational study of women with MFS delivering between January 1998 and March 2018 in 12 UK centres reporting data on maternal and neonatal outcomes.

RESULTS

In total, there were 258 pregnancies in 151 women with MFS (19 women had prior aortic root replacements), including 226 pregnancies ≥24 weeks (two sets of twins), 20 miscarriages and 12 pregnancy terminations. Excluding miscarriages and terminations, there were 221 live births in 139 women. Only 50% of women received preconception counselling. There were no deaths, but five women experienced aortic dissection (1.9%; one type A and four type B-one had a type B dissection at 12 weeks and subsequent termination of pregnancy). Five women required cardiac surgery postpartum. No predictors for aortic dissection could be identified. The babies of the 131 (65.8%) women taking beta-blockers were on average 316 g lighter (p<0.001). Caesarean section rates were high (50%), particularly in women with dilated aortic roots. In 55 women, echocardiographic aortic imaging was available prepregnancy and postpregnancy; there was a small but significant average increase in AoR size of 0.84 mm (Median follow-up 2.3 months) CONCLUSION: There were no maternal deaths, and the aortic dissection rate was 1.9% (mainly type B). There with no identifiable factors associated with aortic dissection in our cohort. Preconception counselling rates were low and need improvement. Aortic size measurements increased marginally following pregnancy.

Maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by the inherited aortopathy Loeys-Dietz syndrome

OBJECTIVE

Pregnancies in women with Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) are rare and are typically documented in case reports only. Early reports suggested high rates of maternal complications during pregnancy and the puerperium, including aortic dissection and uterine rupture, but information on fetal outcomes was very limited.

DESIGN

A retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Eight specialist UK centres.

SAMPLE

Pregnant women with LDS.

METHODS

Data was collated on cardiac, obstetric, and neonatal outcomes.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Maternal and perinatal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by LDS.

RESULTS

Twenty pregnancies in 13 women with LDS were identified. There was one miscarriage, one termination of pregnancy, and 18 livebirths. In eight women the diagnosis was known prior to pregnancy but only one woman had preconception counselling. In four women the diagnosis was made during pregnancy through positive genotyping, and the other was diagnosed following delivery. Five women had a family history of aortic dissection. There were no aortic dissections in our cohort during pregnancy or postpartum. Obstetric complications were common, including postpartum haemorrhage (33%) and preterm delivery (50%). In all, 14/18 (78%) of deliveries were by elective caesarean section, at a median gestational age at delivery of 37 weeks. Over half the infants (56%) were admitted to the neonatal unit following delivery.

CONCLUSION

Women with LDS require multidisciplinary specialist management throughout pregnancy. Women should be referred for preconception counselling to make informed decisions around pregnancy risk and outcomes. Early elective preterm delivery needs to be balanced against a high infant admission rate to the neonatal unit.

TWEETABLE ABSTRACT

Pregnancy outcomes in women with Loeys-Dietz syndrome.

Retrospective UK multicentre study of the pregnancy outcomes of women with a Fontan repair

Background

The population of women of childbearing age palliated with a Fontan repair is increasing. The aim of this study was to describe the progress of pregnancy and its outcome in a cohort of patients with a Fontan circulation in the UK.

Methods

A retrospective study of women with a Fontan circulation delivering between January 2005 and November 2016 in 10 specialist adult congenital heart disease centres in the UK.

Results

50 women had 124 pregnancies, resulting in 68 (54.8%) miscarriages, 2 terminations of pregnancy, 1 intrauterine death (at 30 weeks), 53 (42.7%) live births and 4 neonatal deaths. Cardiac complications in pregnancies with a live birth included heart failure (n=7, 13.5%), arrhythmia (n=6, 11.3%) and pulmonary embolism (n=1, 1.9%). Very low baseline maternal oxygen saturations at first obstetric review were associated with miscarriage. All eight women with saturations of less than 85% miscarried, compared with 60 of 116 (51.7%) who had baseline saturations of ≥85% (p=0.008). Obstetric and neonatal complications were common: preterm delivery (n=39, 72.2%), small for gestational age (<10th percentile, n=30, 55.6%; <5th centile, n=19, 35.2%) and postpartum haemorrhage (n=23, 42.6%). There were no maternal deaths in the study period.

Conclusion

Women with a Fontan circulation have a high rate of miscarriage and, even if pregnancy progresses to a viable gestational age, a high rate of obstetric and neonatal complications.