Heterotopic pregnancy: still a diagnostic dilemma.
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Abdomen, Acute↗
Biomedical subjects
K Erskine
Publications and source records attributed to K Erskine.
Pneumonitis in a lupus twin pregnancy: a case report.
We describe a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), whose pregnancy was complicated by fulminant lupus pneumonitis and pericarditis. Maternal disease responded to therapy and twin girls were delivered, both with thrombocytopenia, one of whom died of an intraventricular haemorrhage. Pneumonitis is a rare complication of lupus in pregnancy which may be fatal. We suggest patients with previous severe pneumonitis should have lung function tests at the onset of pregnancy, and treatment be modified to suppress flare if there is any indication of severe pneumonitis in early pregnancy.
Adult↗
Diagnosis and selective cure of Cushing's disease during pregnancy by transsphenoidal surgery.
The diagnosis of Cushing's Disease during pregnancy is complex because the biochemical features are obscured by changes in the normal hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis that occur during gestation. To date, treatment has not been successful and there is a high incidence of maternal and fetal complications. We report the case of a 24-year-old woman with Cushing's disease who presented during her 16th week of pregnancy. Diagnosis was confirmed by the finding of elevated serum and urinary free cortisol levels with loss of the normal circadian rhythm of serum cortisol. Cortisol levels failed to suppress after a low-dose dexamethasone test but suppressed after a high-dose test. There was an exaggerated serum cortisol and plasma adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) response to corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH). Magnetic resonance (MR) scanning demonstrated a pituitary tumour and cure was effected by transsphenoidal surgery where tumour immunostaining for ACTH was removed. Postoperatively the patient made an uncomplicated recovery; serum cortisol and plasma ACTH levels were undetectable at 9 days following surgery and recovery of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis occurred at 99 days after surgery. Caesarean section was performed at 38 weeks of pregnancy and a healthy but small female infant was delivered. This case illustrates the biochemical features of Cushing's disease during pregnancy and is the first report of the use of CRH testing and MR scanning in this clinical situation. The cure by surgery and successful outcome for mother and infant, with preservation of normal anterior pituitary function, suggest that transsphenoidal surgery may be the treatment of choice.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
Severe polymorphic eruption of pregnancy occurring in twin pregnancies.
We describe three women pregnant with twins who developed severely symptomatic polymorphic eruption of pregnancy. In all of these women oral prednisolone treatment was indicated and administered to two of them with resulting remission. Both these women breast fed their twins and relapsed in the puerperium requiring further systemic steroid therapy. The third woman was cured by early elective delivery. It has not been previously suggested that the severity of polymorphic eruption is related to multiple pregnancy and this possibility is discussed. The safety of oral prednisolone in pregnancy and during lactation is also reviewed.
Adult↗
A request for antenatal advice.
An informed older woman in her first pregnancy often has greater than usual anxieties about the well-being of her baby. She is likely to seek advice about how to have a healthy pregnancy and which antenatal tests to have. Giving the correct guidance, however, is not so straightforward.
Congenital Abnormalities↗