The clinical significance of the irregular fetal heart rhythm

Article Abstract:

An irregular fetal heart beat is not necessarily a sign of a serious heart arrhythmia. In a study of 4,838 fetuses who had an echocardiogram, only 2.4% of those with an irregular heart beat had an serious arrhythmia. Most irregularities will not be persistent.

Prognosis, Arrhythmia, Fetal heart rate

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Successful in utero therapy of fetal heart block

Article Abstract:

Dexamethasone may be used to treat heart block in fetuses of mothers with autoantibodies that are harmful to fetal heart function. Heart block exists when the electrical conductivity of the heart is impaired and the heart rate is slower than normal. Researchers identified fetal heart block in five fetuses at 20 to 23 weeks of pregnancy. Mothers were treated with dexamethasone, a steroid that is able to cross the placenta. Fetal heart block improved in three cases, and excess fluid cleared in three fetuses. Two infants required insertion of pacemakers to maintain normal heart rhythm. Maternal antibodies such as anti-Ro and anti-La may cross the placenta to the fetus after 18 weeks of pregnancy and cause developmental damage to the fetal heart.

Care and treatment, Maternal-fetal exchange, Fetus, Heart block

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Immunohistochemical localization of inducible nitric oxide synthase on human fetal amnion in intra-amniotic infection

Article Abstract:

The fetal amnion may produce nitric oxide in intra-amniotic infection. Nitric oxide is a free radical that is toxic to bacterial and other cells. Researchers compared five amnions from women with intra-amniotic infections and five of the fetal membranes from women without infection. Immunostaining revealed inducible nitric oxide synthase in amniotic epithelial cells of the infected tissue, but not in the uninfected tissue. Inducible nitric oxide synthase increases the synthesis of nitric oxide.

United States, Infection, Physiological aspects, Nitric oxide, Amnion, Chorioamnionitis

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