Prolongation of pregnancy in cases of fetal membrane prolapse into the vagina during the second trimester is difficult using conservative therapy. After pushing the membranes back into the cervix, emergency cervical cerclage may be advantageous in improving the neonatal outcome. We have been managing membrane repositioning and emergency cervical cerclage with a technique using a rubber balloon device (known as a 'mini metreu' in Japan), and we examined the efficacy of this technique in five cases.Our management was as follows: initially, the full bladder technique was attempted under general anesthesia. If this was not effective, amnioreduction was performed by transabdominal amniocentesis. After the membrane repositioning using a mini metreu, double suture cervical cerclage (McDonald method + Shirodkar method) was performed.The diameter of the bulging prolapsed membranes ranged from 30-84 mm, with a mean of 52 mm. Cerclage was successfully performed in all of the five cases. Prolongation of the pregnancy period was from 22-107 days (average; 77.6 +/- 28.9 days). In cases 1-4, healthy newborns were delivered, but in case 5 sudden intrauterine fetal death due to umbilical cord complications occurred at 24 weeks of gestation.It appears that long-term prolongation of pregnancy is possible, when performing membrane repositioning using the mini metreu and emergency cervical cerclage for fetal membrane prolapse into the vagina.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in patients presenting with cervical dilatation in the midtrimester of pregnancy.Amniocentesis for microbial studies was performed in women admitted with cervical dilatation > or = 2 cm, intact membranes, and without active labor between 14 and 24 weeks of gestation. Amniotic fluid was cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, as well as for mycoplasmas. Gram stain was performed on all samples.The prevalence of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity was 51.5% (17/33). The most common microbial isolates were Ureaplasma urealyticum, Gardnerella vaginalis, Candida albicans, and Fusobacterium sp. All patients with microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity had complications. Patients who underwent cervical cerclage in the presence of a positive amniotic fluid culture had rupture of membranes, clinical chorioamnionitis, or pregnancy loss. On the other hand, the prognosis of patients with a negative amniotic fluid culture was better than that of patients with a positive culture. Of 16 patients with a negative amniotic culture, nine were delivered at > 34 weeks.(1) Microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity occurs frequently in women presenting with cervical dilatation in the midtrimester; (2) the microbiologic state of the amniotic cavity is an important prognostic factor for pregnancy outcome; (3) amniocentesis to determine the microbiologic characteristics of the amniotic cavity should be considered before a cerclage is placed in women presenting with cervical dilatation in the midtrimester.

To evaluate whether perioperative indomethacin and antibiotic administration at the time of examination-indicated cerclage placement prolongs gestation.This is a randomized controlled trial performed at a single tertiary care hospital between March 2010 and November 2012. Women older than 18 years of age with a singleton pregnancy between 16 0/7 and 23 6/7 weeks of gestation undergoing an examination-indicated cerclage were eligible. Women were randomly assigned to receive either perioperative indomethacin and antibiotics or no perioperative prophylactic medications. The primary outcome was gestational latency after cerclage placement. Fifty women were required to be randomized to show, with 80% power, a 28-day improvement in latency assuming a latency without intervention of 50±35 days.Fifty-three patients were enrolled with three lost to follow-up. A greater proportion of pregnancies were prolonged by at least 28 days among women who received indomethacin and perioperative antibiotics (24 [92.3%] compared with 15 [62.5%], P=.01). However, gestational age at delivery and neonatal outcomes were statistically similar between groups.Among women receiving an examination-indicated cerclage in the second trimester, gestation was significantly more likely to be prolonged by 28 days among women who received perioperative indomethacin and antibiotics.ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01114516.I.

To evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes of removal versus retention of cervical cerclage after premature preterm rupture of membranes (pPROM).Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched electronically on February 2023 utilizing combinations of the relevant medical subject heading (MeSH) terms, keywords, and word variants that were considered suitable for the topic. Either prospective or retrospective trials were considered suitable for the inclusion. The coprimary outcome of this study were pregnancy latency >7 days from pPROM and pregnancy latency >48 h from pPROM. Random effect head to-head meta-analyses were performed to directly compare each outcome, expressing the results as summary odds ratio (OR) for dichotomous outcomes and as mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes, plus relative 95% confidence interval (CI). Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.Six studies involving a total of 377 women (169 in the "removal" and 208 in the "retention" group) were included. The rate of pregnancy prolongation >48 h was significantly lower in the removal compared to retention group (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.07-0.31; p < 0.0001), as well as the rate of pregnancy prolongation >7 days (OR 0.30 95% CI 0.11-0.83; p = 0.02) and pregnancy latency expressed in days (MD -2.84 days, 95% CI -5.40 to -0.29; p = 0.03). The rate of chorioamnionitis was significantly lower in the removal compared to the retention group (OR 0.57 95% CI 0.34-0.96p = 0.03) as was the rate of Apgar score < 7 at 5 min (OR 0.22 95% CI 0.08-0.56; p = 0.002). There was no difference between removal and retention groups for all the other maternal and perinatal outcomes.The decision whether to remove or retain cerclage in case of pPROM should balance the prematurity-related risks with that of infectious complications, thus highlighting the need for tailored management based on gestational age at occurrence of pPROM.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The objectives of this study were: 1) to determine the amniotic fluid (AF) microbiology of patients with the diagnosis of clinical chorioamnionitis at term using both cultivation and molecular techniques; and 2) to examine the relationship between intra-amniotic inflammation with and without microorganisms and placental lesions consistent with acute AF infection.The AF samples obtained by transabdominal amniocentesis from 46 women with clinical signs of chorioamnionitis at term were analyzed using cultivation techniques (for aerobic and anerobic bacteria as well as genital mycoplasmas) and broad-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS). The frequency of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC), intra-amniotic inflammation [defined as an AF interleukin 6 (IL-6) concentration ≥2.6 ng/mL], and placental lesions consistent with acute AF infection (acute histologic chorioamnionitis and/or acute funisitis) were examined according to the results of AF cultivation and PCR/ESI-MS as well as AF IL-6 concentrations.1) Culture identified bacteria in AF from 46% (21/46) of the participants, whereas PCR/ESI-MS was positive for microorganisms in 59% (27/46) – combining these two tests, microorganisms were detected in 61% (28/46) of patients with clinical chorioamnionitis at term. Eight patients had discordant test results; one had a positive culture and negative PCR/ESI-MS result, whereas seven patients had positive PCR/ESI-MS results and negative cultures. 2) Ureaplasma urealyticum (n=8) and Gardnerella vaginalis (n=10) were the microorganisms most frequently identified by cultivation and PCR/ESI-MS, respectively. 3) When combining the results of AF culture, PCR/ESI-MS and AF IL-6 concentrations, 15% (7/46) of patients did not have intra-amniotic inflammation or infection, 6.5% (3/46) had only MIAC, 54% (25/46) had microbial-associated intra-amniotic inflammation, and 24% (11/46) had intra-amniotic inflammation without detectable microorganisms. 4) Placental lesions consistent with acute AF infection were significantly more frequent in patients with microbial-associated intra-amniotic inflammation than in those without intra-amniotic inflammation [70.8% (17/24) vs. 28.6% (2/7); P=0.04].Microorganisms in the AF were identified in 61% of patients with clinical chorioamnionitis at term; 54% had microbial-associated intra-amniotic inflammation, whereas 24% had intra-amniotic inflammation without detectable microorganisms.

To evaluate whether perioperative indomethacin and antibiotic administration at the time of examination-indicated cerclage placement prolongs gestation.This is a randomized controlled trial performed at a single tertiary care hospital between March 2010 and November 2012. Women older than 18 years of age with a singleton pregnancy between 16 0/7 and 23 6/7 weeks of gestation undergoing an examination-indicated cerclage were eligible. Women were randomly assigned to receive either perioperative indomethacin and antibiotics or no perioperative prophylactic medications. The primary outcome was gestational latency after cerclage placement. Fifty women were required to be randomized to show, with 80% power, a 28-day improvement in latency assuming a latency without intervention of 50±35 days.Fifty-three patients were enrolled with three lost to follow-up. A greater proportion of pregnancies were prolonged by at least 28 days among women who received indomethacin and perioperative antibiotics (24 [92.3%] compared with 15 [62.5%], P=.01). However, gestational age at delivery and neonatal outcomes were statistically similar between groups.Among women receiving an examination-indicated cerclage in the second trimester, gestation was significantly more likely to be prolonged by 28 days among women who received perioperative indomethacin and antibiotics.ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01114516.I.