Does cerclage prevent preterm birth?

Cerclage procedures can be classified according to timing, (elective, urgent, emergent), and anatomic approach (transvaginal and transabdominal). The most current clinical data and the evidence-based recommendations for each type of cerclage procedure are listed.

Does the presence of a funnel increase the risk of adverse perinatal outcome in a patient with a short cervix?

Objective: This study was undertaken to determine whether the presence of a dilated internal os (funneling or beaking) alters the outcome of patients with a short cervix documented by transvaginal ultrasound in the second trimester.

Study Design: Between January 1998 and May 2004, all singleton pregnancies with a short cervix (< or =2.5 cm) and no funnel between 16 and 24 weeks' gestational age were identified by query and review of the Lehigh Valley Perinatal Ultrasound Database.

Intra-operative haemorrhage by blunt versus sharp expansion of the uterine incision at caesarean delivery: a randomised clinical trial.

Objective: To determine whether the method used to expand the uterine incision for caesarean delivery affects the incidence of intra-operative haemorrhage.

Design: A prospective randomised study of women undergoing a low segment transverse caesarean delivery. Participants were assigned to have their uterine incision either sharply or bluntly expanded.

Dominant maternal sleep position influences site of placental implantation.

The objective of this study was to determine if maternal sleeping position around the time of implantation influences eventual placental implantation site. Between November 1997 and April 1999, women with singleton pregnancies between gestational ages of 15 and 20 weeks presenting for ultrasound examinations were prospectively queried regarding their usual position of sleep during early gestation. Dominant position of sleep was noted as prone, supine, right side, or left side.