The Journal of Bucharest College of Physicians and the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences

Diana Zamfir

Diana Zamfir

Multidisciplinary Healthcare Strategies in Pre-labor Uterine Rupture after Minimal Invasive Procedures

Uterine rupture is a significant maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality factor. It is defined as the complete cleaving of the three uterine layers. The pregnancy distention leads to alteration of the uterine wall fibers, especially in the low resistance points like surgical scars. World Health Organization realized an extensive systematic review to determine the prevalence of uterine rupture. A lower prevalence was seen in developed countries and higher rates for least developed countries. The incidence of uterine rupture in women with caesarean section is estimated to be 1% and without caesarean section is as low as 0.006%. Although the uterine scar is the main feature of uterine rupture, other contributing influences on untoward outcomes must be promptly recognized. The aim of this paper was to assess the frequency of uterine ruptures in a tertiary referral center, to identify risk factors and symptoms for complete and partial uterine rupture before labor, common symptoms of uterine rupture, multidisciplinary approach, and emergency surgical management.

Read More »

Correlation Between Early Diagnosis of Ovarian Neoplasm and Long-Term Prognosis

Ovarian cancer is the seventh most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, with the highest mortality rate among female genital cancers. Due to the nonspecific symptoms and the lack of effective screening strategies, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed in an advanced stage of the disease, with a 5-year survival rate of 25%. The efforts of specialists are aimed at identifying screening methods, with the lowest possible rates of false positive or false negative results in order to diagnose the disease at an early stage, when the 5-year survival rate is 92%. In this study we analyzed the incidence of ovarian cancer in the last five years in the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, being registered 153 cases of ovarian cancer. The aim of this paper is to analyze the correlation between the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and the long-term prognosis.

Read More »

Obstetrical and Neonatal Outcome of Pregnancies Complicated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection

COVID-19 pandemic had an impact without precedent. Pregnant women are part of the vulnerable population and the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection consequences on obstetrical and neonatal outcome are still studied. It’s been speculated, based on what is known about other pathogenic viruses, SARS-CoV-2 virus can interfere with placental defense mechanisms and increase the miscarriage and preterm birth rate. Often, pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus develop mild pneumonia. Severe pneumonia occurs very rarely and is statistically significant related to neonatal death. Our study has been conducted in a multidisciplinary hospital unit and included 184 pregnant women with SARS-COV-2 infection who gave birth in our hospital, diagnosed through polymerase chain reaction. There have been analyzed data regarding the maternal symptomatology, the gestational age, the method of giving birth, complications that have occurred during birth, the newborns weight and neonatal outcome through Apgar score. There have been three cases of severe infection with maternal death and one case with neonatal death.
Overall, 20% of patients had mild symptomatology, 2% had severe form and the rest of the patients were asymptomatic. We found a high rate of preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction and an increase incidence of acute fetal distress followed by caesarean section. SARS-CoV-2 virus affects both the mother and the fetus as a whole and, subsequently, individually. Our results show the adverse obstetrical and neonatal outcome in peripartum period complicated with SARS-CoV-2 infection even in asymptomatic and mild-symptomatic cases.

Read More »

Mitral Valve Remodeling after Acute Myocardial Infarction – a Longitudinal Three- Dimensional Echocardiography Study

Background: Recent data suggest that the mechanisms contributing to ischaemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (MI) are different compared to chronic IMR. However, little is known about the dynamic changes over time of mitral valve (MV) geometry after acute MI. Methods and results:Comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) assessment of the MV geometry was performed in 30 patients in the first 7 days after a first ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and after 4 years of follow-up. The MV annulus diameters and area remained unchanged over time, however the MA became progressively flatter (mean difference of annular height 0.19±0.33 cm, p<0.05), independently of the presence or severity of IMR. The posterior leaflet length and area got smaller over time (1.53±0.51 cm vs 1.27±0.33 cm; p<0.05 and 5.65±1.58 cm2 vs 4.88±1.65 cm2; p<0.05, respectively). The tenting height and area were smaller at follow-up (9.06±2.6 mm vs 7.84±2.61 mm, p<0.05; and 1.88±0.6 cm2 vs 1.57±0.5 cm2; p<0.05, respectively). A larger tenting at follow-up correlated with 3D left atrial (LA) volumes, but not with LV volumes and ejection fraction. Conclusions: MV geometry changes over time even in patients with non-severe IMR. The MV healing process consists in annulus flattening associated with improved tenting.

Read More »

Two-Dimensional Speckle Tracking Echocardiography - a Useful Non-Invasive Method in Predicting Significant Coronary Artery...

Echocardiography is the first cardiac imaging technique used to evaluate patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, in the absence of wall motion abnormalities, conventional echocardiography at rest provides little information. Patients presenting with low risk ACS usually have normal wall motion and left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) at rest.

Read More »

The Additive Value of 2D Longitudinal Strain During Stress Echocardiography in Coronary Artery Disease Detection in Low Risk...

Approximately 20% of patients arriving in the crowded emergency departments (ED) present with acute chest pain (ACP) and 60% are admitted in order to rule out an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In the latter category, the ACS is confirmed only in 15% of patients thus resulting in a huge number of unnecessary admissions and wasted resources. (1) Stratifying ACP as low, moderate or high risk ACS allows physicians to take immediate action, initiate treatment and transfer the patient to the appropriate location.

Read More »

Cardiovascular Autonomic Dysfunction: A Possible Prognostic Marker in Patients with Arterial Pulmonary Hypertension

In the past two decades, the association between the cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction and the cardiovascular mortality has been well documented. This association indicates that individuals with abnormal autonomic function tests are candidates for close surveillance. In type 2 diabetes it is recommended that a baseline determination of cardiovascular autonomic function be performed upon diagnosis and within 5 years of diagnosis for those with type 1 diabetes, followed by a yearly repeat test.[1]
Out of the markers that objectify this relationship, heart rate variability (HRV) has proven to be the most reliable and the easiest to quantify. Although HRV has been the subject of numerous clinical studies whose purpose was linking heart rate changes to the gravity and the evolution of the disease, only in two clinical settings a consensus was reached. The drop in HRV can be used as a risk factor in the period following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and as a warning sign for cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in diabetic patients. HRV parameters and their possible prognostic significance have not been thoroughly evaluated in patients presenting pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Read More »