Anterior midline intracranial cysts may be found in three forms: cavum septum pellucidum, cavum vergae, and cavum veli interpositi. Cavum vergae is an extension of the cavum septum pellucidum heading in a posterior direction, past the anterior pillars of the fornix and the foramina of Monro. Although not present in all fetuses, it may be misdiagnosed as a cyst of the interhemispheric line during prenatal ultrasound evaluation, with an uncertain prognosis. We report the case of an 18-year-old pregnant woman who attended to prenatal consult at 32 weeks. Ultrasound evaluation found a rectangular, intracranial, eco-negative cystic lesion, 20 mm wide and 12 mm long, as well as presence of corpus callosum, and no features of compressive hydrocephalus. All cerebral structures were normal. Karyotype was normal. Diagnosis of cavum vergae cyst was considered. A normal newborn was obtained after sp...

Benign peritoneal cystic mesothelioma is a rare benign tumor occurring in women of reproductive age. Acute presentation is even very rare and options of management are not established. A case of a 25-year-old woman with multiple episodes of hypogastric pain and dysmenorrheal is presented. Transvaginal US showed a cystic mass involving left flank to pelvis. The uterus and adnexae were congestive at laparoscopy. Both ovaries, Douglas sac and omentum had grape-like thin-walled cystic clusters. The patient was treated with total omentectomy and complete surgical resection of cysts. Histological analysis of the mass confirmed the diagnosis of benign peritoneal cystic mesothelioma.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of transcervical Foley catheter – oxytocin with oxytocin alone for labor induction in term pregnancies. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: Pregnant women undergoing cervical ripening and labor induction were randomly assigned to be treated with transcervical Foley catheter – oxytocin (group A) or oxytocin alone (group B). Main outcome measures: General characteristics, interval between beginning of induction and delivery, vaginal birth rate, maternal complications, perinatal variables, and adverse effects were evaluated. Results: There were no significant differences between groups in general characteristics (p = ns). Patients of group A showed a shorter interval between the beginning of induction and delivery compared with patients in group B (p < 0.05). There was no ...

Objective: To compare serum brain natriuretic peptide concentrations in preeclamptic patients and healthy normotensive pregnant women. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: A total of 180 patients were selected. Ninety preeclamptic patients were selected as the study group (group A) and 90 healthy normotensive pregnant women with the same age and body mass index as the study group were selected as controls (group B). Methods: Blood samples were extracted from all patients before labor and immediately after diagnosis in group A to determine serum cerebral natriuretic peptide concentrations. Main outcome results: General characteristics, serum brain natriuretic peptide concentrations and diagnostic efficacy. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in serum brain natriuretic peptide concentrations be...

Objective: To establish the usefulness of cervicovaginal interleukin-6 concentrations for the prediction of preterm delivery. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: Patients with preterm delivery (group A), as cases, and pregnant women with term delivery (group B), considered as controls. Interventions: Cervicovaginal secretion samples were obtained from both the external cervical os and vaginal fornix between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. All patients were followed until delivery. Main outcome results: General characteristics, cervicovaginal interleukin-6 concentrations, and prognostic efficacy. Results: Mean gestational age at measurement of interleukin-6 cervicovaginal concentrations was 26.2 +/- 1.1 weeks in group A and 25.9 +/- 1.1 weeks in group B (p = ns). There were no significant differences in maternal age...

Objective: To establish the usefulness of plasma concentrations of angiopoietin-2 in the second trimester of pregnancy as a predictor of the development of preeclampsia. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: Nulliparous pregnant women. Interventions: 504 nulliparous women between 17-20 weeks pregnant who assisted to prenatal control were studied; 41 developed preeclampsia and were considered cases (group A) and 463 did not develop preeclampsia and were considered controls (group B). Main outcome measures: General characteristics, plasma angiopoietin-2 concentrations and prognosis efficacy. Results: There were no significant differences in maternal age, gestational age and systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the moment of ultrasound evaluation (p = ns). Gestational age at diagnosis of preeclampsia in group A wa...

Objective: To establish the utility of serum concentrations of cholesterol in the second trimester of pregnancy as a predictor of the development of preeclampsia. Design: Case-control study. Setting: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: 504 nulliparous pregnant women between 17 and 20 weeks who assisted to Antenatal Consult. Main outcome results: General characteristics serum cholesterol concentrations and prognostic efficacy were evaluated. Results: Cases were 41 pregnant women who developed preeclampsia (Group A) and 463 pregnant women that were considered as controls (Group B). There were no differences in maternal age, gestational age and systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the moment of the ultrasound evaluation (p = ns). Gestational age at diagnosis of preeclampsia in group A was 35.0 +/- 3.2 weeks. There were significant differences in se...

Objective: To compare the efficacy of oral labetalol with oral alpha-methyldopa in the treatment of severe hypertension in preeclamptic patients. Design: Casecontrol study. Institution: Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela. Participants: 200 preeclamptic patients who were randomly assigned to be treated with oral labetalol (group A) or with oral alpha-methyldopa (group B). Main outcome measures: Hypertension treatment efficacy, rate of persistence of hypertension and adverse effects related to drug use. Results: There were no differences between groups regarding maternal age, gestational age at the time of inclusion, and body mass index (p = ns). There were also no statistically significant differences in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure between groups (p = ns). We observed that patients treated with oral labetalol had significantly lower values of sy...

Objective: To determine plasma concentration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in obese and non-obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Case control study. Participants: Women with diagnosis of PCOS and age-matched healthy controls, the latter with regular periods and normal ovaries according to ultrasound. Interventions: Participants were divided in four groups (group A: PCOS and obese; group B: PCOS and nonobese; group C: obese controls; and group D: non-obese controls) according to body mass index (obese > 30 kg/m2 y and non-obese < 25 kg/m2). Main outcome results: Concentrations of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, androstenodione, testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, serum glucose, insulin and TNF-alpha. Results: Obese and non-obese women with PCOS had higher luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, androstenodione. testo...