Kidney disease and reproductive health.

Understanding the relationship between reproductive health and kidney function is important to provide holistic care for people living with kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has negative impacts on both male and female fertility owing to factors including inflammation, hormonal dysregulation, reduced ovarian reserve, reduced sperm quality and sexual dysfunction. However, pregnancy is achievable for most cisgender women with kidney disease, including kidney transplant recipients and patients on dialysis.

Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A) in In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) Treatment: Study Protocol for Pilot Phase of a Randomised Controlled Trial.

: Poor outcomes following IVF treatments are speculated to be due to the transfer of aneuploid embryos that cannot be identified based on morphological evaluation alone. This leads to patients requiring numerous embryo transfers and, consequently, a prolonged time interval before live birth. Embryo selection following preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) with next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been suggested as an intervention to shorten time to pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Effect of female body mass index on intrauterine insemination outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The prevalence of women with a raised body mass index (BMI) seeking assisted conception treatment is increasing. Findings of existing studies evaluating the effect of female BMI on intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatment outcomes remain inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluate the effect of female BMI on IUI treatment outcomes.

Female Infertility in Chronic Kidney Disease.

This review summarises the current literature regarding infertility in women with chronic kidney disease (CKD), describing the epidemiology, pathophysiology, investigations, and management options. The pathophysiology is multifactorial, with proposed mechanisms including disruption of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, psychological factors, and gonadotoxic effects of medications such as cyclophosphamide. Diagnostic investigations in CKD patients seeking to conceive should be considered earlier than in the healthy population.

Systematic review of pregnancy and renal outcomes for women with chronic kidney disease receiving assisted reproductive therapy.

Background: As awareness around infertility is increasing among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), ever more of them are seeking Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). Our aim was to perform a systematic review to describe obstetric and renal outcomes in women with CKD following ART.

Methods: The following databases were searched from 1946 to May 2021: (1) Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), (2) Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), (3) Embase and (4) MEDLINE.

Risk of breast cancer in women treated with ovarian stimulation drugs for infertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the evidence addressing the association between the use of ovarian stimulation drugs and the risk of breast cancer.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Setting: Not applicable.

The impact of emotional health on assisted reproductive technology outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis has addressed ongoing controversy surrounding the association between pre-treatment anxiety, stress and depression and assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes. Medline, Embase and PsycINFO were searched up to November 2019. The eligibility criterion was observational studies reporting the association between pre-treatment anxiety, stress or depression and ART outcomes in men, women or couples undergoing ART.

Evaluation of healthcare professionals' understanding of eponymous maneuvers and mnemonics in emergency obstetric care provision.

Objective: To evaluate whether eponymous maneuvers and mnemonics taught for the management of shoulder dystocia, vaginal breech delivery, and uterine inversion were remembered and understood in practice.

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to obstetricians and midwives collecting information about the HELPERR and PALE SISTER mnemonics. Three extended matching questions evaluated participants' knowledge of the correct maneuvers, with their matching eponyms, used in the management of shoulder dystocia, vaginal breech delivery, and uterine inversion.

A longitudinal study of normal fetal femur volume.

Objective: Fetal femur volume (FV) is a useful marker of skeletal growth. Our objective was to create a normal FV chart in a cohort of healthy pregnant women and to assess FV repeatability.

Method: The method used was a prospective, observational study using 3D ultrasound.

Sphenoidal fontanelle area measurement on rendered three-dimensional ultrasound.

Objective: Rendered three-dimensional images of the fetal cranial vault permit the identification of sutures and measurement of the fontanelle surface area. The objective of this study was to establish the feasibility and repeatability of sphenoidal fontanelle area measurement.

Method: Head volumes were obtained using the biparietal diameter as the reference plane.

White blood cell count as a predictor of the severity of sickle cell disease during pregnancy.

Objective: Increasing epidemiological evidence implicates leukocytosis as a major risk factor for poor outcome in non-pregnant sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether steady-state white blood cell (WBC) count can predict SCD-related problems in pregnancy.

Design: Retrospective observational study of 40 SCD pregnant women who had their antenatal care at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust, London.