Feasibility of measuring 3-dimensional renal parenchymal volume to predict postnatal renal function in near-term fetuses with congenital hydronephrosis: a preliminary study.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of predicting kidney function using the fetal renal parenchymal volume as determined by prenatal 3-dimensional (3D) sonography and to determine the association among the prenatal renal pelvic diameter, renal parenchymal volume, and postnatal renal function in near-term fetuses with unilateral hydronephrosis.

Methods: This retrospective study included 42 kidneys (21 normal and 21 hydronephrotic) from 21 fetuses between 30 and 39 weeks' gestation. We used the extended imaging virtual organ computer-aided analysis (XI VOCAL; 10 planes) technique for the prenatal volumetric measurements, and postnatal renal function was estimated using renal scintigraphy.

Obstetric and perinatal outcomes of dichorionic twin pregnancies according to methods of conception: spontaneous versus in-vitro fertilization.

We have observed the inconsistent findings from various studies on twin pregnancy outcomes obtained by assisted reproductive technology and spontaneous conception. In most studies, however, the concrete chorionicity, regarded as a confounding factor for predicting the perinatal outcomes of twin pregnancies, has not been determined. The purpose of this study was to compare obstetric and perinatal outcomes of only the dichorionic twin pregnancies according to the methods of conception: spontaneous and in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

Pregnancy outcome after cervical conization: risk factors for preterm delivery and the efficacy of prophylactic cerclage.

Objective: This study examined the risk factors for preterm birth and the efficacy of prophylactic cerclage in patients who had undergone cervical conization due to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia before pregnancy.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of all patients who gave live singleton births between May 1996 and April 2009, after having cervical conization. Delivery before 37 gestational weeks was considered as preterm birth.

Frontomaxillary facial angle measurements in euploid Korean fetuses at 11 weeks' to 13 weeks 6 days' gestation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of fetal frontomaxillary facial angles in a euploid Korean population at 11 weeks' to 13 weeks 6 days' gestation.

Methods: Three-dimensional volumes of the fetal head were obtained from women with low-risk singleton pregnancies at 11 weeks' to 13 weeks 6 days' gestation who consented to this prospective study. Only fetuses with either a normal karyotype confirmed by amniocentesis or no abnormalities after delivery were considered eligible for analysis and were characterized as euploid for the purposes of this study.

Perioperative and long-term complications among obese women undergoing vaginal surgery.

Objective: To determine whether obesity influenced the risk of perioperative and long-term complications in patients undergoing vaginal surgery.

Methods: Women diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse who underwent vaginal surgery between March 1999 and May 2007 were classified into 3 groups: normal weight (body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters] 18.5-23.

Association between bacterial vaginosis and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the presence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) is associated with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection.

Methods: A total of 588 women who had abnormal Pap smears and had finally undergone loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) in our institute from September 2002 to May 2006 were selected. The screening tests for BV were done in 552 of the 588, and BV was diagnosed if three of the following four findings were satisfied: presence of abnormal discharge, vaginal pH>4.