Clinical outcomes in pregnant women with coronavirus disease 2019 in a perinatal medical centre in Japan: a retrospective study of the first 1 year of the pandemic.

In this retrospective study, we analysed clinical and demographic data from the medical records of 31 pregnant women with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who were treated at our hospital between April 2020 and April 2021. The most common symptom was a fever; ∼10% of patients were asymptomatic. One patient with rapidly worsening pneumonia needed a Caesarean Section at 30 weeks and was admitted for intensive care.

Alteration of circulating cell-free DNA level by external cephalic version: A potential biomarker for direct evaluation of placental damage.

Aim: To confirm that variations in cell-free fetal DNA (cffDNA) are indicators of external placental damage, we quantitatively investigated cffDNA alterations in maternal peripheral blood during external cephalic version (ECV).

Methods: We recruited 48 singleton pregnant women who underwent ECV in our hospital. Before and immediately after ECV, we harvested 10 ml of maternal peripheral blood samples for cffDNA analysis.