Doxylamine succinate-pyridoxine hydrochloride (Diclegis) for the management of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: an overview.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is common and often undertreated, in part due to fears of adverse effects of medications on the fetus during early pregnancy. In April 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved doxylamine succinate 10 mg and pyridoxine hydrochloride (a vitamin B6 analog) 10 mg as a delayed-release combination pill called Diclegis for the treatment of NVP. Diclegis is currently the only medication that is FDA-approved for the indication of NVP.

The pharmacologic management of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.

Nausea and vomiting are common in early pregnancy. Forty percent or more of pregnant women may continue to suffer beyond the first trimester and 10% beyond the second trimester. A focus of the assessment is to confirm that the nausea and vomiting is due to the pregnancy and not some other cause.

Severe lead poisoning caused by use of health supplements presenting as acute abdominal pain during pregnancy.

Background: The public and some health care providers regard complementary and alternative medications as safe. There is no scientific basis for that belief, but there is evidence of poor quality control and toxicity of some remedies.

Case: A white pregnant woman presented with diffuse, acute abdominal pain ultimately diagnosed as lead poisoning due to the use of traditional Asian Indian health supplements.

Antibiotics and other anti-infective agents in pregnancy and lactation.

Serum levels of many drugs are lower in pregnancy compared with the nonpregnant state. Their renal clearance is higher and the maternal intravascular volume is expanded. Most antibiotics are safe for use in pregnancy and lactation.

Overview of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy with an emphasis on vitamins and ginger.

Patients suffering from nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) frequently do not receive therapy, in part because of fears of adverse effects of medications on the fetus. Several vitamin-based and herbal therapies have been shown to be effective and safe. Two randomized trials of vitamin B(6) have shown a benefit in reducing NVP.

Pharmacogenetic screening for susceptibility to fetal malformations in women.

Objective: To present a review of the literature and research on the pharmacogenetics of congenital defects, with a focus on the need for predictive maternal genotype assays.

Data Source: MEDLINE searches (January 1985-January 1999), past reference reviews, and unpublished research.

Study Selection: Review of relevant human, animal, and basic science studies.

Cervical cancer diagnosed shortly after pregnancy: prognostic variables and delivery routes.

Objective: To compare the prognoses of women diagnosed with cervical cancer during pregnancy with the prognoses of those diagnosed within 6 months after delivery and to assess the effect of vaginal delivery on recurrence risk and prognosis.

Methods: A matched case-control study of women with cervical cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 6 months of delivery was performed. Fifty-six women had cervical cancer diagnosed during pregnancy and 27 within 6 months after delivery.

Encapsulated beta-islet cells as a bioartificial pancreas to treat insulin-dependent diabetes during pregnancy.

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the effectiveness of the bioartificial pancreas technique in correcting (1) maternal carbohydrate metabolism and (2) fetal malformation rates in a pregnant diabetic animal model.

Study Design: Insulin secretion from encapsulated rat islets cultured in the presence of homologous rat prolactin was determined and compared with that of controls. Streptozotocin-induced diabetic Balb/c mice were then transplanted with rat islet cells encapsulated within alginate microbeads and were then bred.

A placebo-controlled randomized trial of the terbutaline pump for prevention of preterm delivery.

To determine the efficacy of the terbutaline pump for the prevention of preterm delivery, patients in preterm labor defined by progressive cervical change underwent intravenous magnesium sulfate tocolysis (with or without oral indomethacin, as necessary), and once labor was arrested, were randomized to one of three treatment arms: terbutaline by pump, saline by pump (blinded), or oral terbutaline. If recurrent preterm labor occurred despite maximization of therapy, the treatment arm was determined and therapy was changed; saline pump and oral terbutaline were switched to terbutaline pump, terbutaline pump was switched to oral terbutaline. Patients who continued to labor were readmitted for aggressive intravenous therapy.

Drug therapy during pregnancy.

A randomized prospective trial has shown that folic acid started before conception and continued for the first trimester reduces the risk of recurrence of neural tube defects by 72% in women with a previously affected child. Carbamazepine exposure in utero is associated with a 1% risk of spina bifida. Long-term follow-up of antenatal exposure to phenobarbital and carbamazepine in two groups of infants shows no neurologic differences between the two groups.

Vitamin B6 is effective therapy for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study.

Fifty-nine women completed a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study of pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6) for the treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Thirty-one patients received vitamin B6, 25-mg tablets orally every 8 hours for 72 hours, and 28 patients received placebo in the same regimen. Patients were categorized according to the presence of vomiting: severe nausea (score greater than 7) or mild to moderate nausea (score of 7 or less).

Randomized comparative trial of indomethacin and ritodrine for the long-term treatment of preterm labor.

A randomized prospective trial was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of ritodrine and indomethacin in the long-term treatment of preterm labor. Forty patients with intact membranes in preterm labor at 23 to 34 weeks' gestation were randomized to receive either intravenous ritodrine or oral indomethacin as the first-line tocolytic agent. Successful intravenous ritodrine therapy was followed by oral terbutaline therapy, and indomethacin-treated patients continued to receive oral indomethacin.

Drug therapy during pregnancy.

Fetal dysmorphic syndromes have been described with exposure to most commonly used anticonvulsants, most recently carbamazepine (Tegretol, Ciba-Geigy, Basel, Switzerland). Fetal genetic susceptibility may determine which infants are affected. Long-term use of heparin in pregnancy may cause significant osteoporosis, which appears to be reversible.

The safety and efficacy of tocolytic agents for the treatment of preterm labor.

Pharmacologic inhibition of uterine contractions remains the mainstay of treatment for preterm labor despite the ongoing controversy regarding its effectiveness. A diverse variety of tocolytic medications have been proposed for clinical use, with betamimetics and magnesium sulfate being the common therapeutic agents of choice in the United States today. The clinician using these agents should be aware of the significant maternal and fetal side-effects associated with these particular medications.