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Routine diagnosis of pregnancy, hydatidiform mole and chorionepithelioma using female xenopus laevis
Volume 70 Number 3 Vol.
SELECTED
62, Augwt,
681
ABSTRACTS
1954.
The Routine Diagnosis of Pregnancy, B. M.: Chorionepithelioma Using Female Xenopus Laevis, p. 33. ‘Rolland, Charles : Diabetes in Pregnancy, p. 257.
“Hobson,
Hobson:
Routine Diagnosis of Pregnancy, Hydatidiform Using Female Xenopus Laevis, p. 33.
Hydatidiform
Mole
and
Mole and Chorionepithelioma
The University of Edinburgh Pregnancy Diagnostic Laboratory, now 25 years old, deals with 25,000 tests each year. In this laboratory all the estimations are done upon the female South African clawed toad-Xenopzls laevis. The amount of ehorionic gonadotrophin present in a positive injection of urine is A weakly positive or negative said to be related to the number of eggs a toad lays. biological reaction from what seems to be a normal pregnancy may be a warning sign. The prime necessities of any biological test are accuracy and specificity. In a series of tests done between January, 1949, and June, 1951, 15,000 Asehheim-Zondek tests gave a correct result in 99.5 per cent of the cases and 37,000 Hogben tests resulted in an accuracy of 99.8 per cent. Aside from the many pregnancy tests, the Diagnosis Laboratory does about 1,000 dilution tests a year. These tests are requested when a pregnancy is not behaving normally, or a hydatidiform mole or chorionepithelioma is suspected. The test is similar to the pregnancy test except that the urine or concentrate is diluted with distilled water before injection. Observations of Zondek (1929) and Aschheim (1930) showed that women with hydatidiform moles excrete abnormally large amounts of chorionic gonadotrophin. If a test is positive in a dilution of l/100, further dilutions are done until no positive response is obtained. Work done in the Diagnosis laboratory shows that a positive reaction in a dilution of l/100 or more is given in 48 per cent of molar cases, 35 per cent of chorionepitheliomas, and 6 per cent of normal pregnancies. Positive reactions in high dilutions obtained after the fourteenth week of pregnancy are more reliable, the peak of excretion of gonadotrophin in normal pregnancy having passed. Dilution tests are especially significant in the follow-up after removal of a mole or epithelioma. It seems to be advisable to do weekly tests for the first month, followed by monthly tests for the next six months. The biological tests would show an increasing gonadotrophin output and would allow for treatment at an earlier date than if the clinician waited for a definite clinical sign. M. J. FITZPATFLICE, M.D.
Ikdland:
Diabetes
in
Pregnancy,
p. 257.
This is the Honyman Gillespie Lecture delivered in Edinburgh, May 14, 1953, being a report of 77 pregnancies in 64 diabetic women. There was no maternal mortality. The fetal death rate was 28.6 per cent. Three spontaneous and two therapeutic abortions occurred. The latter were performed for vascular complications of the diabetes. There were 9 instances of intrauterine death, cause unknown; 2 stillbirths (neither baby was of exceptional size); and 5 neonatal deaths. The author briefly reviews what is known of the prediabetic state and hormonal influences. Values of chorionic gonadotrophin in the serum and urine obtained after the hundredth day are reported. He found that high values in any one individual were of no prognostic significance with regard to the fate of the fetus. Serial pregnanediol estimations were reported also, but again no correlation was found with the outcome of the pregnancy. The author has not found that the administration of stilbestrol or progesterone has any influence on the fetal mortality rate. No relationship was demonstrated between the length of time the mother had had diabetes and fetal mortality. The author believes that early delivery by eesarean section may save some babies. He comments on the difficulties encountered in controlling diabetes mellitus in pregnant women. DAVID M. KYDD, M.D.
SELECTED
62, Augwt,
681
ABSTRACTS
1954.
The Routine Diagnosis of Pregnancy, B. M.: Chorionepithelioma Using Female Xenopus Laevis, p. 33. ‘Rolland, Charles : Diabetes in Pregnancy, p. 257.
“Hobson,
Hobson:
Routine Diagnosis of Pregnancy, Hydatidiform Using Female Xenopus Laevis, p. 33.
Hydatidiform
Mole
and
Mole and Chorionepithelioma
The University of Edinburgh Pregnancy Diagnostic Laboratory, now 25 years old, deals with 25,000 tests each year. In this laboratory all the estimations are done upon the female South African clawed toad-Xenopzls laevis. The amount of ehorionic gonadotrophin present in a positive injection of urine is A weakly positive or negative said to be related to the number of eggs a toad lays. biological reaction from what seems to be a normal pregnancy may be a warning sign. The prime necessities of any biological test are accuracy and specificity. In a series of tests done between January, 1949, and June, 1951, 15,000 Asehheim-Zondek tests gave a correct result in 99.5 per cent of the cases and 37,000 Hogben tests resulted in an accuracy of 99.8 per cent. Aside from the many pregnancy tests, the Diagnosis Laboratory does about 1,000 dilution tests a year. These tests are requested when a pregnancy is not behaving normally, or a hydatidiform mole or chorionepithelioma is suspected. The test is similar to the pregnancy test except that the urine or concentrate is diluted with distilled water before injection. Observations of Zondek (1929) and Aschheim (1930) showed that women with hydatidiform moles excrete abnormally large amounts of chorionic gonadotrophin. If a test is positive in a dilution of l/100, further dilutions are done until no positive response is obtained. Work done in the Diagnosis laboratory shows that a positive reaction in a dilution of l/100 or more is given in 48 per cent of molar cases, 35 per cent of chorionepitheliomas, and 6 per cent of normal pregnancies. Positive reactions in high dilutions obtained after the fourteenth week of pregnancy are more reliable, the peak of excretion of gonadotrophin in normal pregnancy having passed. Dilution tests are especially significant in the follow-up after removal of a mole or epithelioma. It seems to be advisable to do weekly tests for the first month, followed by monthly tests for the next six months. The biological tests would show an increasing gonadotrophin output and would allow for treatment at an earlier date than if the clinician waited for a definite clinical sign. M. J. FITZPATFLICE, M.D.
Ikdland:
Diabetes
in
Pregnancy,
p. 257.
This is the Honyman Gillespie Lecture delivered in Edinburgh, May 14, 1953, being a report of 77 pregnancies in 64 diabetic women. There was no maternal mortality. The fetal death rate was 28.6 per cent. Three spontaneous and two therapeutic abortions occurred. The latter were performed for vascular complications of the diabetes. There were 9 instances of intrauterine death, cause unknown; 2 stillbirths (neither baby was of exceptional size); and 5 neonatal deaths. The author briefly reviews what is known of the prediabetic state and hormonal influences. Values of chorionic gonadotrophin in the serum and urine obtained after the hundredth day are reported. He found that high values in any one individual were of no prognostic significance with regard to the fate of the fetus. Serial pregnanediol estimations were reported also, but again no correlation was found with the outcome of the pregnancy. The author has not found that the administration of stilbestrol or progesterone has any influence on the fetal mortality rate. No relationship was demonstrated between the length of time the mother had had diabetes and fetal mortality. The author believes that early delivery by eesarean section may save some babies. He comments on the difficulties encountered in controlling diabetes mellitus in pregnant women. DAVID M. KYDD, M.D.