Wakayama Medical University Hospital perinatal helicopter ambulance service: 14 year review.

Background: In 2003, a perinatal helicopter air ambulance service was introduced for remote areas of Wakayama and Mie prefectures, Japan, but its long-term impact on perinatal medicine has not yet been analyzed.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on helicopter air ambulance cases recorded between January 2003 and December 2016 at Wakayama Medical University Hospital (WMUH).

Results: During that period, 61 pregnant mothers were transferred by helicopter air ambulance to WMUH.

Adverse perinatal and neonatal outcomes in patients with chronic abruption-oligohydramnios sequence.

Aim: Chronic abruption-oligohydramnios sequence (CAOS) is a clinical condition with lasting vaginal bleeding and oligohydramnios because of chronic placental abruption, which seems to cause preterm labor and neonatal chronic lung disease (CLD). This prompted us to explore the correlation between perinatal/neonatal outcomes and CAOS.

Methods: Patients with suspected risk of abortion with recurrent vaginal bleeding were divided into CAOS and non-CAOS groups, and we compared the perinatal/neonatal outcomes between these two groups.

Early features in neuroimaging of two siblings with molybdenum cofactor deficiency.

We report the features of neuroimaging within 24 hours after birth in 2 siblings with molybdenum cofactor deficiency. The first sibling was delivered by emergency cesarean section because of fetal distress and showed pedaling and crawling seizures soon after birth. Brain ultrasound revealed subcortical multicystic lesions in the frontal white matter, and brain MRI at 4 hours after birth showed restricted diffusion in the entire cortex, except for the area adjacent to the subcortical cysts.

Correlation between echocardiographic superior vena cava flow and short-term outcome in infants with asphyxia.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between superior vena cava (SVC) flow and short-term outcome in infants with perinatal asphyxia.

Methods: Infants in sequence born after more than 35 weeks of gestation who had been hospitalized at the NICU and normal neonatal wards of Wakayama Medical University between May 2005 and September 2010 were recruited for this observational cohort study. The study eligibility criterion was the presence of perinatal asphyxia, as evidenced by abnormal fetal heart rate monitoring and an Apgar score of 7 or less at 1 min or need for resuscitation using positive pressure ventilation.

Changes in maternal and child health outcomes after introduction of a helicopter into perinatal transportation in Japan.

To examine the effect of perinatal helicopter transportation on maternal and child health. Helicopter transportation for the sparsely populated southern areas of Wakayama and Mie prefectures was introduced in June 2003. Maternal and child health statistics for 2000-2002 and 2004-2006 were compared between the south and north regions of the prefectures.

The plasma angiotensin II level increases in very low-birth weight infants with neonatal chronic lung disease.

Background: Angiotensin II (AII) has been reported to play an important role in organ fibrosis, and a local renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) has been demonstrated in the lungs. However, the relationship of the RAS to chronic lung disease of the newborn (CLD) remains obscure.

Objective: To investigate the plasma AII levels throughout the neonatal period in very low-birth weight (VLBW) infants and examine the possible factors that might affect the AII levels.

Central hypothyroidism in infants who were born to mothers with thyrotoxicosis before 32 weeks' gestation: 3 cases.

We describe 3 infants who were born to mothers with Graves' disease and developed central hypothyroidism that persisted for >6 months after birth. Two were preterm infants, and the other was a term infant who was born to a euthyroid mother who had been treated with an antithyroid drug since week 31 of gestation. These cases suggest that passage of thyroid hormones can occur from a thyrotoxic mother to the fetus and that the gestational period earlier than 32 weeks may be the critical time for development of central hypothyroidism.