OB Exam #3 Flashcards
What does the term prematurity mean?
- a birth before 259 days gestation?
- Defined as regular uterine contractions that occur before 37 weeks gestation and result in dilation and effacement of cervix
What are some common risk factors for prematurity?
- multifetal pregnancy
- preterm rupture of membranes
Define tocolysis:
- stopping labor
- Tocolysis allows corticosteroids for fetal pulmonary maturation and antibiotics to decrease maternal chrioamnionitis.
What pre-existing medical conditions contributes the most to obstetric morbidity/mortality during delivery?
- Pulmonary HTN(98:1000)
- Malignancy(23:1000)
- SLE(21:1000)
What are common causes of maternal death?
- Hemorrhage
- Embolism(amniotic fluid esp.)
- Preeclampsia
- Infection
- CHF
What is the leading cause of preinatal morbidity/mortality?
- Premature delivery
- 50% of all perinatal deaths
Premature labor definition:
- Regular uterine contractions that occur before 37 weeks gestation, or before 259 days from last menstrual cycle
- Contractions result in dilation or effacement of cervix
Common risk factors of premature labor.
- Multifetal pregnancies
- Preterm rupture of membranes
Late preterm birth definition:
- Those of 34-46 weeks gestation
- Compose 70% of all preterm births
Low birth weights defined:
- Fetal size categories
- Low birth weight: 500-2500g
- Very low birth weight: 500-1500g
- Extremely low birth weight: 500-1000g
T or F: Preterm labor diagnosis is facilitated by measuring fetal fibronectin and maternal cervical u/s.
True
What is Tocolysis?
- Stopping labor(especially premature)
- Often done for 48 hours
- Critical Goal: allows for corticosteroid administration, which reduces the risks of the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, IVH, NEC and overall perinatal death
- Also, allows for latency antibiotic administration, promotes fetal maturation and decreases maternal chorioamniois.
- As a general rule, if tocolytics are given, they should be given concomitantly with cortiosteriods
T or F: Although preterm labor is not well understood, there are 4 pathways that are well supported causes of preterm labor:
- True
- Myometrial and fetal membrane overdistention
- Decidual hemorrhage
- Precocious fetal endocrine activation
- Intrauterine infection or inflammation
- Substance abuse
Fetal Endocrine Signals and preterm labor:
- Increased uterine contractility at term and preterm results from activation and then stimulation of the myometrium
- Activation can be provoked by: mechanical stretch of uterus and by the endocrine pathway resulting from increased activity of fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
- Cortisol provides a crucial link to uterine stimulation: increased fetal production of PGs, corticotropin-releasing hormone output, ect.
When does the initial benefit of corticosteroid therapy occur?
- 18 hours after administration of first dose
- Maximal benefit at about 48 hours
After what gestational age are tocolytics not used?
- At or after 33 weeks
- Bc corticosteroids aren’t used after 33 weeks
Does using tocolytics improve outcome for mom/baby?
- Growing evidence not to
- Bacterial colonization of fetal membranes and amniotic fluid triggers and inflammatory response in the mom/fetus, leading to preterm labor and long-term neurologic/respiratory complications in the neonate
- Prolong pregnancy in this state?
- ?improvement in neonatal outcome with tocolytic use
- Poor maternal/fetal side-effect profile
Agents used as tocolytics:
- Beta adrenergic receptor agonists
- Nitric oxide donors
- Magnesium sulfate
- Calcium channel blockers
- Prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors
- Oxytocin antagonists
- NSAIDS
- Labor inhibiting drugs are only marginally effective
What are the primary mechanisms of tocolytic agents?
- Through generation or alteration of intracellular messengers
- Blocking the action of a known myometrial stimulant
Tocolytic agent: Magnesium Sulfate
- Causes relaxation of vascular, bronchial and uterine smooth muscle
- Alters calcium transport and availability
- Motor end plate sensitivity and muscle membrane excitability are also depressed
- Hyperpolarizes the plasma membrane and inhibits myosin light-chain kinase activity by competing with intracellular calcium: reduces myometrial contractility
- Antagonizes the vasoconstrictive effect of alpha-agonists, so ephedrine and phenylephrine are likely to be less effective to increase maternal BP
- Eliminated unchanged by the kidneys
What is the normal serum MgSO4 level during pregnancy?
1.8 to 3 mg/dL
What serum magnesium level is therapeutic as a tocolytic?
4-8 mg/dL
even toxic levels do not eliminate uterine contractility
What does a serum mag level of 5 to 10 cause?
P-Q interval prolonged and QRS widening
What does a serum mag level of 10-12 cause?
the patellar reflex is eliminated
What does a serum mag level of 12-15 cause?
causes respiratory depression
What does a serum mag level of >15 cause?
leads to SA and AV node block
What does a serum mag level >18 cause?
respiratory distress progresses to apnea
What does a serum mag level of 25 cause?
cardiac arrest
women given magnesium must be monitored closely for evidence of hypermagnesemia
What are the side effects of Mag sulfate?
- dose dependent
- most frequent/serious: pulmonary edema!!
- skeletal muscle weakness increases
- CNS depression(sedation)
- Vascular dilation
- slight decrease in BP with epidural anesthesia
- If in therapeutic range, no cardiac muscle effect
- Ephedrine and phenylephrine are less effective
- Neonatal SE are rare
T or F: Patients on Mag sulfate therapy have partial, if subclinical NMB.
- True
- both depolarizing and non-depolarizing NMB are potentiated by mag
- Admin of priming/defasciculating doses of NMB may cause significant paralysis when combined with mag
- The NMB effects of mag can be at least partially antagonized by: calcium
Is Magnesium Sulfate overdose treatable?
- yes
- D/C MgSO4
- intubate and ventilate
- IV Calcium Chloride
- Diuresis to facilitate elimination of mag
Neonatal SE after maternal magnesium administration?
-Rare
After prolonged high-dose maternal mag sulfate: hypotonia & respiratory depression
Magnesium for preeclampsia, and other uses:
- Preeclampsia: A vasospastic disease of pregnancy
- can result in severe HTN, coagulopathy and seizure
- Mag sulfate causes: relaxation of vascular smooth muscle, a decrease in SVR and a decrease in BP
- At levels of 7-9.5, it is an anticonvulsant
- It decreases fibrin deposition, improving circulation to visceral organs that are vulnerable to vasospasm and failure
Beta-agonist:
Stimulation of B2-receptors causes:
- smooth muscle relaxation
- uterine muscle relaxation
Stimulation of these receptors triggers a cascade of biochemical effects, resulting in:
- Inhibition of myometrial contractility at the cellular level
- Increase in progesterone production
- Progesterone causes histologic changes in myometrial cells that limit spread of contractile impulses
-Myometrial relaxation caused by: B-agonist binding to B2-adrenergic receptors and subsequently increasing levels of intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP), which activates protein kinase, inactivating myosin light-chain kinase, thus diminishing myometrial contractility
B2 stimulation also:
- increases glucose and insulin levels
- When B-agonist infusion is started, blood glucose level increases within a few hours and returns to baseline within 72 hours without treatment
- Potassium is redistributed from the extracellular to the intracellular compartments: results in decrease serum K level, sometimes less than 3
- Serum K levels return to baseline, also within 72 hours
T or F: Clinically used B-agonists cross placenta and have fetal and neonatal effects?
- True
- Fetal tachycardia(FHR > 160 bpm) common
- Neonatal hypoglycemia, esp. if maternal serum glucose is elevated at delivery
(When maternal and therefore fetal blood glucose levels are elevated, the fetus increases insulin release in response…after delivery, the neonate continues to release insulin at increased rate, leading to hypoglycemia)
Terbutaline(Brethine, Bricancyl, other…):
- Synthetic
- Relatively B2-receptor-selective, noncatecholamine sympathomimetic amine
- Due to the high incidence of tachycardia and other significant SE and its lack of efficacy, terbutaline use is currently discouraged
Nitric Oxide Donors
- Vasodilator
- Essential for the maintenance of normal smooth-muscle tone and is produced in a variety of cells
- Increase cyclic guanosine monophosphate(cGMP) content in smooth-muscle cells: inactivates myosin light-chain kinases, leading to smooth-muscle relaxation
- Example:NTG(bolus 1 mcg/kg)
- Magnesium Sulfate superior to NGT
- NGT rarely used due to maternal hypotension
Calcium channel Blockers:
-Nifedipine most common agent used
-It can be administered orally
-
CCB: inhibit the influx of calcium ions through the cell membrane and the release of intracellular calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. This decreased intracellular free calcium, leading to inhibition of calcium-dependent myosin light-chain kinase-mediated phosphorylation, which results in myometrial relaxation.
Combination of magnesium and nifedipine is potentially dangerous: NMB effects that can interfere with pulmonary and cardiac function
Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors:
- Cyclooxygenas converts arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H2(PGH2)
- Prostaglandin H2 serves as a substrate for tissue-specific enzymes: critical to parturition(labor). Prostaglandins enhance formation of myometrial gap junctions and increase available intracellular calcium by raising transmembrane influx and sarcolemmal release of calcium.
- Indomethacin is the most common used cyclooxygenase inhibitor
- Indomethacin dose: Start 50-100 mg orally, and then maintain at 25-50 mg orally Q4 hours for 48 hours
Ketorolac: Is Not Indicated
Oxytocin Receptor Antagonists:
- Atosiban: oxytocin receptor antagonist that blocks normal effects of oxytocin in the uterus.
- Normally, oxytocin stimulates contraction by inducing the conversion of phosphatidyl inositol triphosphate to inositol triphosphate, which binds to a protein in the sarcoplasmic reticulum and causes the release of calcium into the cytoplasm
- Reports of fetal deaths with atosiban administered before 28 weeks gestation have limited this agent
- NOT FDA approved in the US
Regional Anesthesia and preterm delivery.
Anesthetic Considerations
- When tocolysis fails, preterm deliveries are often done by C-section
- 1 and 5 min APGAR scoring and maybe a 10 minutes if GETA
- Patients on Mag Sulfate are often candidates for subarachnoid/epidural blocks as long as careful attention is devoted to volume status
- Mag causes vasodilation, and maternal hemorrhage is tolerated poorly by parturients on mag