Genotoxic effect of tocolytic drug ritodrine in combination with smoking during pregnancy.

Objective: Tocolytic drugs are used widely in order to prevent preterm birth. Ritodrine, is the only food and drug administration (FDA) approved drug for tocolytic use. We estimated the cytogenetic effect of ritodrine administered as maternal therapy, alone or in combination with smoking, in women and their neonates.

Effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on fetus: a cytogenetic perspective.

Objective: The examination of the genotoxic, cytostatic and cytotoxic effects of smoking during pregnancy.

Method: Lymphocyte cultures of peripheral blood were received from 20 women who smoked during pregnancy as well as umbilical cord blood of their newborns. Fluorescence Plus Giemsa staining technique was used in order to perform cytogenetic analyses for three indices, Sister Chromatid Exchanges (SCEs), Proliferation Rate Index (PRI) and Mitotic Index (MI).

Cytogenetic evaluation of pre-pregnancy smoking in maternal and newborn lymphocytes.

Objective: To study cytogenetic damage in order to estimate the effect of pre-pregnancy smoking on pregnant women and their foetuses.

Study Design: Lymphocyte cultures were obtained from peripheral blood of 20 women who quit smoking during pregnancy, and umbilical cord blood of their newborns at delivery. Cytogenetic analyses were performed for sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), proliferation rate index (PRI) and mitotic index (MI) using the Fluorescence Plus Giemsa staining technique.

Transvaginal aspiration of ovarian cysts: our experience over 121 cases.

We performed an evaluation of ultrasound-guided transvaginal aspiration of ovarian cysts as a viable alternative to surgery in 104 reproductive and 17 postmenopausal women. One-hundred and twenty-one patients with a simple >4 cm diameter ovarian cyst, with a benign appearance on ultrasound as well as on clinical and blood examination, underwent transvaginal fine needle aspiration of the cyst under ultrasonographic control. One-hundred and four patients were of reproductive age and 12 were postmenopausal.