Cerclage and cervical insufficiency: an evidence-based analysis.

Since the cervical cerclage was introduced to clinical practice 50 years ago, the efficacy of the operation has not been established by evidence-based standards for many indications. Serious flaws in the methods employed to study the safety and efficacy of cerclage have led to confusion and misuse of the operation, although some investigators maintain that current standards make randomized clinical trials of this traditional surgery unethical. At present, five randomized clinical trials have offered significant information about elective cerclages performed for historical indications, and the expected neonatal survival rate with properly selected elective cerclages is around 87%.

Frequency of congenital varicella syndrome in a prospective cohort of 347 pregnant women.

Objective: To estimate the rate of congenital varicella zoster virus syndrome in neonates born to women developing varicella zoster virus infections during pregnancy.

Methods: Pregnant women with clinical varicella zoster virus infection were enrolled at ten perinatal centers. Maternal and fetal immunoglobulin (Ig) G and IgM by fluorescent antibody confirmed 74.

Risk factors and outcome of varicella-zoster virus pneumonia in pregnant women.

To determine the factors associated with an increased risk of developing varicella-zoster virus (VZV) pneumonia during pregnancy, a case-control analysis was done in which 18 pregnant women with VZV pneumonia were compared with 72 matched control subjects. VZV infection was identified clinically, and VZV pneumonia was diagnosed by dyspnea and findings on chest radiographs. Of 347 pregnant women with VZV infection, 18 (5.