[Epidemiologic data on arterial hypertension in pregnancy].

A retrospective study of 241 case histories of essential hypertension in pregnancy treated in the Salengro Maternity Hospital of Lille from 1976 to 1981 was carried out. Looking at 450 readings of blood pressure in pregnancy it has been possible to work out a profile for these patients. These patients have as singular factors: They are often fat or very fat.

[The unruptured luteinized follicle. Determination of estradiol and progesterone in peritoneal fluid].

The finding of more luteinized unruptured follicles in women who are under investigation for unexplained infertility compared with fertile women suggests that the syndrome does exist and probably plays a causative role in the infertility of these patients. The levels of oestradiol 17-beta and progesterone found in the peritoneum in the early luteal phase showed a much higher figure when there has been rupture of the follicle with a haemorrhagic corpus luteum and a stigma as compared with luteinized unruptured follicles. It does seem to us worth while to obtain some of the peritoneal fluid in order to estimate the levels of hormones and to diagnose more often the unruptured follicle syndrome whenever laparoscopy in undertaken in the early luteal phase.

[Postpartum renal cortical necrosis].

The authors report two cases of post-partum cortical renal necrosis. The diagnosis was made on clinical and biological criteria (severe, prolonged oliguria, the signs of intra-vascular coagulation defects, a rise in L.D.

[The level of glycohaemoglobin (Hb A1c) in connection with diabetes and pregnancy (author's transl)].

The authors worked out a normal curve using 379 levels obtained over 9 months in 180 normal pregnancies. 6% (with a confidence level between 4.4% and 7.

[The value of estimating the levels of amniotic insulin which come from the fetus in looking after diabetic pregnancies in the last trimester (author's transl)].

The authors carried out 49 estimations of amniotic fluid levels of insulin in 41 patients. 25 of these patients were non-diabetic and they were a control group, and 16 patients were diabetic (24 estimations). The liquor was collected by amniocentesis between the 32nd and the 42nd week of amenorrhoea.

[The influence of present therapeutic methods and especially of beta-blockers on fetal and maternal prognosis in hypertensive syndromes in pregnancy. 43 case records (author's transl)].

The authors studied 43 cases of arterial hypertension in pregnancy in an attempt to determine the efficiency and safety of different anti-hypertensive drugs. The patients were divided into two major groups: arterial hypertension which revealed itself during pregnancy (true toxaemias of pregnancy and relapsing toxaemias), and arterial hypertensions which were added on to a pre-existing pathology (arterial hypertension, diabetes, chronic nephritis). The cases in these different classes were then divided into two definite groups according to the need for therapy: the first group was treated by rest and hydrallazine as a single therapeutic agent.

[The prognostic value of raised uric acid in the blood in arterial hypertension in pregnancy. 58 cases (author's transl)].

The authors have carried out research in 58 cases to see whether the findings of high uric acid levels in the blood are of prognostic value in all cases of arterial hypertension in pregnancy whatever the aetiology. The material studied consisted of 30 true cases of toxaemia of pregnancy, 13 cases of recurrent toxaemia and 15 cases of the vasculo-renal syndrome on top of the pre-existing pathological condition. In 37 cases where the blood uric acid level was lower than 300 micromoles there were only 4 minor complications.