To understand the different changes and events that occur in humans from conception until labour our experimental animal model is the ewe. Some studies use laboratory rodents, non-human primates and domestic ruminants as a model for research relevant to human pregnancies.1 Sheep, humans and other higher primates have villous interdigitation, wherein the chorion has a tree-like branching pattern...

BACKGROUND During labor, ephedrine is widely used to prevent or to treat maternal arterial hypotension and restore uterine perfusion pressure to avoid intrapartum fetal asphyxia. However, the effects of ephedrine on uterine blood flow have not been studied during uterine contractions. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of ephedrine on uterine artery velocities and resistance ind...

The present study tested the hypothesis that the pregnancy-associated increase in endothelium-dependent relaxation of the uterine artery was mediated primarily by an increase in nitric oxide (NO) release, resulting in a reduction in smooth muscle intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)). Uterine arteries obtained from nonpregnant and near-term (140 days gestation) pregnant sheep were us...

OBJECTIVES To investigate whether, in women with abnormal uterine artery Doppler, platelet volume and function will identify a subgroup of women at increased risk of pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction and whether in-vitro platelet aggregation precedes the onset of clinical disease. DESIGN Platelet number, volume and aggregation induced by collagen or adenosine 5'-diphosphate we...

OBJECTIVE To report the clinical characteristics, pathologic findings and treatments of a patient with a Caesarean scar choriocarcinoma. PATIENT HISTORY A 22-year-old woman had a diagnosis of primary gestational choriocarcinoma in a uterine Caesarean scar misdiagnosed as a normal Caesarean scar pregnancy. The patient underwent selective uterine artery embolization coupled with methotrexate ar...

Uterine fibroids are benign tumors of the myometrium with a diverse range of manifestations. Fibroids can dramatically increase in size during pregnancy due to the increase in estrogen levels. After delivery, the fibroids usually shrink back to their pre-pregnancy size. Uterine myomas may have many complications, including abnormal uterine bleeding, infertility, pressure on nearby organs, degen...

ABSTRACT Uterine artery embolization (UAE), a minimally invasive procedure used for controlling and managing profuse bleeding in conditions like uterine fibroids, hemorrhage, cases of intractable postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). A wide array complications due to UAE includes pulmonary embolism, ischemia, necrosis, sepsis, death. 27 years old married woman (parity 1+2) presented with complaints mass...

The relaxing effects of adenosine, N-[(R)-1-methyl-2 phenylethyl]-adenosine (R-PIA) and 5-N-ethylcarboxamide adenosine (NECA) were investigated in human uterine arteries precontracted by phenylephrine in vitro. Adenosine, R-PIA and NECA relaxed isolated uterine arteries with intact endothelium, the potency order was NECA > R-PIA > adenosine. When tested on vessels devoid of their endothelium, t...