OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to reevaluate the incidence of occult early midtrimester intraamniotic infection in asymptomatic patients at the time of genetic amniocentesis. METHODS A total of 177 amniotic fluid (AF) specimens from patients referred for genetic amniocentesis between 15 and 20 postmenstrual weeks were evaluated for the presence of bacteria by detailed light microsc...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate ductus venosus Doppler waveforms before and after amniocentesis in order to investigate any effect of amniocentesis on fetal myocardial hemodynamics. We also evaluated the umbilical artery, uterine artery and fetal mid-cerebral artery Doppler waveforms in order to investigate any relationship with ductus venosus Doppler changes. METHODS The study population cons...

BACKGROUND In animal studies, the inhibition of VEGF activity results in high mortality and impaired renal and glomerular development. Mechanical stimuli, like mechanical stretch in respiratory and circulatory systems, results in an elevated expression of VEGF. In animal models, the experimental urinary obstruction is associated with stretching of tubular cells and activations of the renin-angi...

Methylene blue (MB) is a cationic thiazine dye with the chemical name tetramethylthionine chloride. It has a characteristic deep blue color in the oxidized state, but the reduced form, leukomethylene blue (LMB), is colorless. Methylene blue has been widely used in a variety of clinical settings to identify anatomic (Manhes et al., ’94; Sills and Zinkham, ’94; Barber et al., ’95) and pathologic ...

Uterine rupture is a life threatening condition for both the mother and her fetus. It may be seen in the second trimester usually after induction for pregnancy termination in a scarred uterus. Spontaneous rupture in the second trimester before labor is a very rare condition. Here, we report a case of uterine rupture at 23-week pregnancy due to elevated uterine pressure with a history of laparos...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and their inhibitors (TIMP) in second trimester amniotic fluid of women with hypertensive disorders compared to normotensive women. STUDY DESIGN Amniotic fluid was obtained from 133 women undergoing genetic second trimester amniocentesis. Zymography was performed for MMP characterization and an MMP-2 ELISA kit was used to determi...