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Biomedical subjects

F G Cunningham

Publications and source records attributed to F G Cunningham.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Results of a multicenter comparative study of single-dose cefotetan and multiple-dose cefoxitin as prophylaxis in patients undergoing cesarean section.

A study to compare the prophylactic efficacy of a single 2 g dose of cefotetan with multiple 2 g doses of cefoxitin in reducing the incidence of postcesarean section infection was evaluated in a multicenter trial of 269 women. No significant differences in clinical or bacteriologic response were detected between the two groups. A successful clinical response rate was achieved in 139 of 162 of the evaluable subjects given cefotetan (86 percent) and in 71 of 79 patients (90 percent) given cefoxitin. The respective satisfactory bacteriologic response rates were 91 percent (135 of 148 patients) and 93 percent (68 of 73 patients). The incidences of endometritis for cefotetan and cefoxitin (12 percent and 5 percent, respectively) and of postoperative wound infection (3 percent and 5 percent, respectively) were also not significantly different. Bactericidal levels of cefotetan were maintained in plasma in the immediate postpartum period. Both drugs were well tolerated. Single-dose prophylaxis with cefotetan was comparable to multiple doses of cefoxitin in reducing infectious morbidity in women undergoing cesarean section.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Head computed tomographic scans in women with eclampsia.

From 1980 to 1986, head computed tomographic scans were performed in 49 women with eclampsia managed according to the standardized regimen used at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Abnormal radiographic findings were seen in 14 (29%). Although this incidence may have been affected by the temporal relationship of the scan to the seizure, it was greatly impacted by technical resolution obtained with succeeding improved equipment. In the last 3 years of the study more than a third of these scans showed some abnormality, and in 1986, using "fourth-generation" equipment, half were abnormal. These areas of radiographic hypodensity correspond to those with petechial hemorrhages and local edema that have been described at autopsy in women who died after eclamptic episodes. All women recovered fully despite ominous findings in some. We conclude that the clinical utility of tomography in women with otherwise "uncomplicated eclampsia" is limited because these findings seldom alter management.

Brain↗
PubMed1988

Bacterial endocarditis. A serious pregnancy complication.

The incidence of bacterial endocarditis, a rare complication of pregnancy, may be increasing due to illicit drug use. Increased awareness, with prompt diagnosis and aggressive treatment during gestation, may lead to improved maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Acute focal pyelonephritis (lobar nephronia) complicating pregnancy.

Lobar nephronia, although initially indistinguishable from acute pyelonephritis, is characterized by a prolonged febrile course. The diagnosis is established radiographically using computed tomography. Treatment involves continuation of antimicrobials until the patient has been afebrile for 48 hours. Lobar nephronia has not been previously reported with pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Hypothyroidism complicating pregnancy.

Hypothyroidism rarely complicates pregnancy because most affected women are anovulatory. In this report, we describe 28 complicated pregnancies cared for over a ten-year period at Parkland Memorial Hospital. In the group of 16 pregnancies in 14 overtly hypothyroid women, maternal complications were common and included anemia (31%), preeclampsia (44%), placental abruption (19%), postpartum hemorrhage (19%), and cardiac dysfunction. Perinatal morbidity and mortality were also high mainly because of placental abruption, and reflected frequent low birth weight (31%) and fetal death (12%). In a group of 12 women with subclinical hypothyroidism, these complications were less impressive. We speculate that overt thyroid deficiency is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome related to preeclampsia and placental abruption. Thyroxine replacement probably improves these outcomes even if subclinical hypothyroidism persists.

Female↗
PubMed1987

Pulmonary injury complicating antepartum pyelonephritis.

Over a 7-year period, 15 pregnant women admitted to Parkland Memorial Hospital for acute pyelonephritis developed respiratory insufficiency characterized by dyspnea, tachypnea, hypoxemia, and radiographic evidence of pulmonary infiltrates. Clinical manifestations usually appeared 24 to 48 hours after the patient was admitted and varied from mild respiratory distress to pulmonary failure in three; these three required tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. We found no evidence that pulmonary edema was caused by intravenous fluid overload. Oxygen therapy and ventilation were given to maintain the arterial PO2 at 80 mm Hg or greater, and erythrocyte transfusions were given to six women to correct anemia. Women with pulmonary injury were more likely to have multisystem derangement than a control group without respiratory involvement, but there were no clinical risk factors that were predictive at admission. This syndrome was probably caused by permeability pulmonary edema, likely mediated by endotoxin-induced alveolar-capillary membrane injury since other evidence of endotoxemia was common. Thrombocytopenia, hemolysis, intravascular coagulation, renal dysfunction, and transient cardiomegaly concomitant with hyperdynamic ventricular function are all explicable from endotoxin effects.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1987

Treatment and prevention of female pelvic infection: the quest for single-agent therapy.

The advantages of a single-agent regimen for prevention or treatment of female pelvic infections are outlined, and the characteristics of an "ideal" single agent are described. Indications for antimicrobial use in obstetrics and gynecology as well as the pathogens most likely to cause infection are reviewed. Empirical treatment regimens are assessed not only for efficacy but also for safety, simplicity, cost, and potential for inducing bacterial resistance. Piperacillin, as an example of an antimicrobial that may be appropriate for single-agent use in female pelvic infections, is evaluated in depth.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1987

Urinary tract infections complicating pregnancy.

Urinary infections, with a spectrum from covert bacteriuria to severe pyelonephritis, commonly complicate pregnancy. Serious infections follow untreated silent bacteriuria in a fourth of cases, and routine screening can be justified in high-risk populations, particularly those from lower socioeconomic strata. Despite an initial salutary response to a number of antimicrobial regimens, covert bacteriuria recurs in one-third of treated women whose risk of pyelonephritis remains at 25%. Acute cystitis may be unrelated to these other infections and responds readily to a number of regimens; however, single-dose therapy is not recommended since early pyelonephritis can be mistaken for uncomplicated cystitis. Pyelonephritis is the most common severe bacterial infection complicating pregnancy. These women are frequently quite ill, and hospitalization is recommended. Since 85% to 90% respond within 48 hours to intravenous fluids and antimicrobials, continued fever and evidence of sepsis after two or three days should prompt a search for underlying obstruction. Perhaps 20% of women with severe pyelonephritis develop complications that include septic shock syndrome or its presumed variants. These latter include renal dysfunction, haemolysis and thrombocytopaenia, and pulmonary capillary injury. In most of these women, continued fluid and antimicrobial therapy result in a salutary outcome, but there is occasional maternal mortality.

Female↗
PubMed1987

Convulsions in hypertensive, proteinuric primiparas more than 24 hours after delivery. Eclampsia or some other cause?

A diagnosis of eclampsia has been considered inappropriate when the onset of a convulsion is greater than 24 hours after delivery. The observations presented here provide strong support for waiving the 24-hour rule, at least when convulsions from no other apparent cause and accompanied by hypertension and proteinuria occur in a primipara as late as 10 days postpartum. Late postpartum eclampsia seems an appropriate term for this very uncommon condition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

How often does maternal preeclampsia-eclampsia incite thrombocytopenia in the fetus?

Overt thrombocytopenia (defined as a platelet count of less than 100,000/microL) was not identified at or soon after delivery in any of 262 infants of mothers with hypertension induced or exacerbated by pregnancy. The platelet counts were 100,000 to 149,000/microL in 11 (4.2%) of the offspring and 150,000/microL or higher in the rest, even though the platelet counts of the 258 mothers were less than 150,000/microL in 77 (30%), less than 100,000/microL in 51 (20%), and less than 50,000/microL in 17 (7%). Some infants of hypertensive mothers did develop overt thrombocytopenia later; however, the frequency and intensity appeared to be no greater than it was in infants with similar complications (prematurity, growth retardation, infection, and meconium aspiration) whose mothers were normotensive. We conclude that the fetus whose mother has preeclampsia-eclampsia is very unlikely to be thrombocytopenic during labor and delivery, even when the mother is thrombocytopenic. Therefore, neither cesarean delivery to avoid labor nor scalp blood platelet counts during labor need be performed.

Eclampsia↗
PubMed1987

Trophoblastic embolization during molar evacuation: central hemodynamic observations.

We evaluated prospectively the extent of trophoblastic embolization and its central hemodynamic effects during and after evacuation of large molar pregnancies in six women. A pulmonary artery catheter was inserted to obtain hemodynamic measurements as well as to obtain blood samples to identify trophoblasts before, during, and six hours after evacuation. Small numbers of both multinucleated giant cells and of large mononuclear cells with abundant cytoplasm were identified in the buffy coat of blood, aspirated in two cases before evacuation and for all six cases, during evacuation. There were no significant changes in heart rate or mean systemic arterial, pulmonary arterial, central venous, and pulmonary capillary wedge pressures; or cardiac output, stroke volume, and pulmonary or systemic vascular resistance when preevacuation preanesthetic values were compared with those six hours after evacuation. However, significant decreases in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and pulmonary vascular resistance were observed during evacuation, which returned to preevacuation levels by completion of anesthesia.

Female↗
PubMed1986

A prospective comparison of selective and universal electronic fetal monitoring in 34,995 pregnancies.

We investigated the effects of using intrapartum electronic fetal monitoring in all pregnancies, as compared with using it only in cases in which the fetus is judged to be at high risk. Predominant risk factors included oxytocin stimulation of labor, dysfunctional labor, abnormal fetal heart rate, or meconium-stained amniotic fluid. This prospective alternate-month clinical trial took place over a 36-month period during which 34,995 women gave birth. In alternate months, either 7 (for "selective monitoring") or 19 (for "universal monitoring") fetal monitors were made available in the labor and delivery unit. During the "selective" months, 6420 of 17,409 women (37 percent) were electronically monitored, as compared with 13,956 of 17,586 women (79 percent) during the "universal months." Universal monitoring was associated with a small but significant increase in the incidence of delivery by cesarean section because of fetal distress, but perinatal outcomes as assessed by intrapartum stillbirths, low Apgar scores, a need for assisted ventilation of the newborn, admission to the intensive care nursery, or neonatal seizures were not significantly different. We conclude that not all pregnancies, and particularly not those considered at low risk of perinatal complications, need continuous electronic fetal monitoring during labor.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Peripartum heart failure: idiopathic cardiomyopathy or compounding cardiovascular events?

During a 12-year period, when more than 106,000 women were delivered, 28 women with peripartum heart failure of obscure etiology that initially was diagnosed as peripartum cardiomyopathy were studied. None had obvious underlying cardiac disease or iatrogenic fluid overload, and in all an assiduous search for underlying cardiovascular disease was launched. In 21 of these 28 women, heart failure was attributed to chronic underlying disease (chronic hypertension in 14, forme fruste mitral stenosis in four, and morbid obesity in one) or viral myocarditis. Importantly, these women also had multiple compounding cardiovascular factors--preeclampsia, cesarean section, anemia, and infection--which, when superimposed on those of pregnancy, acted in concert to cause heart failure. In seven women, the cause for cardiomegaly and global hypokinesis was not found, and peripartum cardiomyopathy was diagnosed. Compared with women with explicable causes of peripartum heart failure, these women did poorly: six had persistent cardiomegaly and heart failure, and four of these died within four months to eight years. From these observations, the authors conclude that idiopathic peripartum cardiomyopathy is uncommon, and that in most women with peripartum heart failure of obscure etiology, underlying chronic disease will be identified. Heart failure in these women ensues when the cardiovascular demands of normal pregnancy are amplified further by common pregnancy complications superimposed upon these underlying conditions that cause compensated ventricular hypertrophy.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Puerperal pelvic thrombophlebitis: impact on diagnosis and treatment using x-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

The clinical diagnosis of puerperal pelvic thrombophlebitis was confirmed by x-ray computed tomography in 11 women, and further documented in six by magnetic resonance imaging. Venous thrombi were demonstrated in ovarian, iliofemoral, and inferior vena caval vessels. In six women with ovarian vein involvement and no evidence of iliofemoral thrombophlebitis, resolution followed intravenous antimicrobial therapy alone, and in three of these, resolution was confirmed by x-ray tomography. In contrast, three of five women with symptomatic iliofemoral thrombophlebitis had a prolonged febrile course despite antimicrobial and heparin therapy. The clinical courses of these 11 women were consistent with the observation that pelvic thrombophlebitis is associated with pelvic infection. Disease manifested within a few days after parturition was more likely due to ovarian vein involvement, whereas disease with later onset of symptoms was more likely due to iliofemoral thrombosis, with or without vena caval extension. Through the use of x-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, the natural course of pelvic thrombophlebitis can be better elucidated and therapeutic regimens more clearly evaluated.

Female↗
PubMed1985

Cesarean section: an answer to the House of Horne.

The incidence of cesarean delivery in the United States has at least tripled in the past 20 years, and this has generated a great deal of concern within the profession, by the government, and by the consumer. Recent data from the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, from which a stable 5% cesarean section rate was reported, have led those investigators to conclude that more frequent delivery by cesarean section in the United States was due in part to less aggressive management of labor in nulliparous patients. In this report, we compare obstetric practices and outcomes during 1983 for Parkland Memorial Hospital with those of the National Maternity Hospital. The overall cesarean delivery rate was 18% in Dallas and 6% in Dublin, and racial population differences along with an increased number of nulliparous patients likely account for a higher incidence of primary cesarean sections for dystocia in Dallas. Importantly, when we compared the results in Dublin with our own, more liberal use of cesarean delivery for presumed fetal jeopardy in Dallas was associated with a sevenfold decreased incidence of intrapartum fetal death and a twofold decrease in infants with seizures. From these data, we advise caution before one attempts to emulate, on faith alone, someone else's low and seemingly safe cesarean delivery rate.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1985

Erythrocyte morphology in women with severe preeclampsia and eclampsia. Preliminary observations with scanning electron microscopy.

Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphologic characteristics of erythrocytes in women with preeclampsia and eclampsia. In nine nulliparous women with eclampsia, the proportion of abnormal red cells (schistocytes, echinocytes, and spherocytes) was significantly greater than in 12 normally pregnant control women (p less than 0.001). Likewise, the proportion of these abnormal erythrocyte forms was significantly greater in 12 nulliparous women with preeclampsia than in 25 normally pregnant control women (p = 0.009). Six women with mild pregnancy-induced hypertension without proteinuria were studied before and after magnesium sulfate therapy had been given, and no differences in the proportion of abnormal erythrocyte forms were found. Evidence for microangiopathic hemolysis, manifest by reticulocytosis and thrombocytopenia, was apparent with eclampsia, although only reticulocytosis was identified in women with preeclampsia. There was evidence for hepatic dysfunction in more than half of the women with eclampsia, and in nearly one third of those with preeclampsia. We speculate that compositional changes in the membrane, induced by plasma/erythrocyte lipid interchanges, which are predisposed by normal pregnancy and amplified by severe preeclampsia, especially in the presence of liver dysfunction, may have participated in the genesis of the red cell abnormalities observed. Furthermore, these abnormalities in the cell membrane may increase erythrocyte susceptibility to microangiopathic hemolysis.

Eclampsia↗
PubMed1985

Cefotaxime treatment for women with community-acquired pelvic abscesses.

Forty-one women with pelvic abscesses complicating salpingitis were treated with parenteral cefotaxime, a newer cephalosporin. Abscesses ranged in size from 4 by 4 to 13 by 15 cm, and in 10 women (24%) they were greater than or equal to 10 cm. Neisseria gonorrhoeae was recovered from the endocervix in 17 women (41%). A mean of 26.7 gm of cefotaxime was given over a mean of 6.5 days, and operation was not required during initial therapy. Only two women (5%) required the addition of another antimicrobial. Chronic pelvic pain and recurrent infection were infrequent during the 31- to 43-month follow-up period. Five women (12%) were readmitted for elective surgical therapy because of persistent or recurrent adnexal mass 1 to 33 months following study entry. Six (15%) women became pregnant and were delivered of their infants a mean of 25 months following cefotaxime therapy.

Abscess↗