Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of transvaginal sonography (TVS) in the preoperative staging of endometrial carcinoma, because accurate preoperative staging of the disease would assist in planning the optimal course of treatment. We investigated the ability to distinguish between cases with < 50% and > 50% myometrial invasion (FIGO Stage Ia -Ib vs. Stage Ic), and tumor extension to the cervical stroma (Stage IIb) according to the old FIGO classification. Methods 140 women with pathologically-proven of endometrial cancer, referred to our institution between 2007 and 2010, were included in this study. All underwent TVS examination about seven days before the surgical staging. Histological findings of myometrial and cervical stroma invasion were used as the reference standard. Results The histological subtypes comprised 75% endometrioid adenocarcinoma, 9% serous papillary, 6% endometrioid villoglandular, 4% villoglandular, 3% adenosquamous and 3% clear cells; there were 60% well differentiate, 15% moderately differentiate and 25% poorly differentiate cancers. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy for TSV in the evaluation of < 50% myometrial infiltration were 82%, 77%, 79%, 80% and 48%; of > 50% myometrial infiltration were 86%, 90%, 86%, 90%, and 57%; for cervical invasion were 80%, 100%, 100%, 89% and 63% respectively. Conclusions The transvaginal sonography shows good accuracy in the staging of endometrial carcinoma. Our results support a potential role of TVS for the prediction of strome cervix infiltration of endometrial cancer.

This study evaluates the efficacy and toxicity of dose-dense weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). We collected 23 cases of LACC treated with weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin for nine cycles: 20 patients had complete or partial response to chemotherapy and were submitted to surgery, 3 with poor response received chemoradiation therapy. Pathologic examination showed complete response in four patients, myometrial invasion <50% in nine and >50% in seven patients, parametrial involvement in two, vaginal metastasis in one and lymphovascular space invasion, with positive margins, in another case. Despite seven patients had radiological evidence of lymph nodes involvement at diagnosis, only one had nodal metastases. Five patients showed grade 3-4 of hematologic toxicity.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of transvaginal sonography (TVS) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance-colonography (CE-MR-C) for the pre-surgical assessment of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). Methods Ninety women were prospectively enrolled for a suspicion of DIE. All patients underwent a TVS and a CE-MR-C performed blindly, before laparoscopy. The sites of DIE examined by both imaging techniques were: recto-vaginal septum, pouch of Douglas, utero-sacral ligaments, vesico-uterine pouch, bowel, bladder and vagina. The presence of adhesions, the involvement of adnexa and of a previous abdominal scar, in case of a clinical suspicion, were also evaluated. TVS and CE-MR-C findings were compared with laparoscopic and histological results. Results Endometriosis was confirmed by laparoscopy in 95.6% of cases (86//90). In 82.2% (74/90) of patients there was DIE. The global accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, negative predictive values, positive likelihood ratios and negative likelihood ratios were 89.2%, 81.1%, 94.2%, 89.6%, 89.0%, 13.9 and 0.2 for TVS, 87.2%, 71.1%, 97.1%, 93.7%, 84.6%, 24.4 and 0.3 for CE-MR-C. CE-MR-C allowed to diagnose all cases of bowel involvement; the accuracy for infiltration and stenosis was 100%. The accuracy of TVS for recto-sigmoid nodules and infiltration was 91.1% and 88.9%. Conclusions Both techniques showed satisfactory results. TVS appears a powerful, simple, feasible, cost effective tool for preoperative staging of DIE. CE-MR-C is an "X Ray free" technique, which could be reserved for cases with deep infiltrating rectosigmoid lesions, for the prediction of stenosis and involvement of the upper part of colon and small intestine. Copyright © 2012 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Objective: We used data from a national study of pregnant women with HIV to evaluate the prevalence of congenital abnormalities in newborns from women with HIV infection. Design: Observational study. Setting: University and hospital clinics. Population: Pregnant women with HIV exposed to antiretroviral treatment at any time during pregnancy. Methods: The total prevalence of birth defects was assessed on live births, stillbirths, and elective terminations for fetal anomaly. The associations between potentially predictive variables and the occurrence of birth defects were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for exposed versus unexposed cases, calculated in univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Main outcome measures: Birth defects, defined according to the Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry criteria. Results: A total of 1257 pregnancies with exposure at any time to antiretroviral therapy were evaluated. Forty-two cases with major defects were observed. The total prevalence was 3.2% (95% CI 1.9-4.5) for exposure to any antiretroviral drug during the first trimester (23 cases with defects) and 3.4% (95% CI 1.9-4.9) for no antiretroviral exposure during the first trimester (19 cases). No associations were found between major birth defects and first-trimester exposure to any antiretroviral treatment (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.51-1.75), main drug classes (nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.51-1.76; non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.56-2.55; protease inhibitors, OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.43-1.95), and individual drugs, including efavirenz (prevalence for efavirenz, 2.5%). Conclusions: This study adds further support to the assumption that first-trimester exposure to antiretroviral treatment does not increase the risk of congenital abnormalities.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: to compare ultrasound (US) and autopsy findings of fetal malformations in second trimester terminations of pregnancy to evaluate the degree of agreement between US and fetal autopsy. METHODS: in this study, all second trimester termination of pregnancy between 2003-2010 were considered. US and autopsy findings were compared and all cases were classified into five categories according to the degree of agreement between US and pathology (A1: full agreement between US and autopsy; A2: autopsy confirmed all US findings but revealed additional anomalies 'rarely detectable' prenatally; B: autopsy demonstrated all US findings but revealed additional anomalies 'detectable' prenatally; C: US findings were only partially demonstrated at fetal autopsy; D: total disagreement between US and autopsy). RESULTS: 144 cases were selected. In 49% of cases there was total agreement between US and autopsy diagnosis (A1). In 22% of cases additional information were about anomalies 'not detectable' by US (A2). In 12% of cases autopsy provided additional information about anomalies not observed but 'detectable' by US (B). In 13% of cases some anomalies revealed at US, such as valve insufficiencies, pericardial and pleural effusions, were not verified at autopsy (C). Total lack of agreement was noted only in 4% of cases (D). Main areas of disagreement concerned cardiovascular, CNS and complex malformations. The degree of agreement was higher if malformations were diagnosed in a tertiary center. CONCLUSIONS: this study shows an overall high degree of agreement between definitive US and autopsy findings in second trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal malformations. Autopsy reveals to be the best tool to diagnose malformations and often showed other abnormalities of clinical importance not detected by US, but sometimes also US could provide additional information about functional anomalies because US is a dynamic examination.

PURPOSE: This study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of pelvic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging completed by MR colonography for the preoperative evaluation of deep pelvic endometriosis in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 143 patients (mean age 34.3 ± 5.1 years) with a clinical suspicion of deep pelvic endometriosis were assessed by pelvic MR and MR colonography. All patients underwent laparoscopic surgery 3-10 weeks after the MR examination. The presence, location, number and extent of endometriotic lesions were evaluated. Data obtained with MR were compared with surgical findings. MR sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values and diagnostic accuracy values were calculated for each site by considering the laparoscopic and histological findings as the reference standard. RESULTS: Laparoscopy confirmed the presence of endometriosis in 119/143 patients (83%); in 76/119 (64%) deep pelvic endometriosis was diagnosed, whereas in the remaining 43/119 (36%), superficial peritoneal implants and endometriomas were found. In 32/119 (27%) patients, intestinal lesions were detected. MR had sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy values of 67-100%, 85-100%, 83-100%, 84-100% and 84-100%, respectively, in recognising lesions located in different pelvic sites. CONCLUSIONS: MR imaging combined with colonography is a highly accurate tool for characterising deep endometriotic lesions in patients scheduled for laparoscopic surgery. In particular, MR colonography has very high accuracy in detecting colorectal involvement.

Objective: To verify the ultrafine conformation of term villi in diabetic and normal placentae. Villar dysmaturity and chorangiosis are considered the most frequent findings in diabetic placentae, but their histogenesis is still unclear. Study Design: We performed a morphometric study of 38 term villi in 5 diabetic placentae and of 37 term villi of 5 normal placentae in order to know the different extension of endothelial surface (VL), the maximum (D max) and minimum (D min) distance of the vessels from the basal membrane, as well as the exact thickness of basal membrane (MT BM). The villi were examined with transmission electron microscopy, and parameters were automatically acquired with the iTEM software (Soft Imaging System, Münster, Germany). Results: VL results were statistically higher in diabetic placentae than in normal ones. Also D max and D min were higher in diabetic disease. MT BM was not different in the two groups. Conclusion: Our findings show that, in the presence of chorangiosis, the vessel surface in diabetic placentae is higher than in normal group, but the vessels are randomly distributed in term villi. The basal membrane is not different in the two groups. Morphometric evaluation seems to be more accurate using ultrafine samples.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the contribution of contrast-enhanced MR-colonography (CE-MR-C) for the diagnosis of intestinal endometriosis. METHODS: One hundred and four women with suspected endometriosis were prospectively enrolled. All patients were subjected to MRI consisting of two phases: pelvic high-resolution MRI (HR-MRI) followed by CE-MR-C after colonic distension using a 1.5-liter water enema and injection of 0.15 ml/kg of 0.5 M gadolinium-DTPA with T1w high-resolution isotropic volume (THRIVE) and balanced turbo field echo (BTFE) images. HR-MRI and CE-MR-C were considered as two datasets, which were independently reviewed by two radiologists with 12 and 2 years' experience respectively. The presence of deep pelvic endometriotic lesions with particular attention to colorectal involvement was recorded. RESULTS: MRI findings correlated with laparoscopy in all cases. Thanks to CE-MR-C images, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy for diagnosis of colorectal endometriosis increased from 76%, 96%, 84%, 93% and 91%, to 95%, 97%, 91%, 99% and 97% for the most experienced radiologist and from 62%, 93%, 72%, 89% and 85%, to 86%, 94%, 82%, 96% and 92% for the less experienced radiologist; moreover, the interobserver agreement increased from 0.63 to 0.80 (Cohen's K test). CONCLUSION: CE-MR-C allows easier recognition of colorectal endometriosis and higher interobserver agreement.

Nanotubular structures, denoted tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) have been described in recent times as involved in cell-to-cell communication between distant cells. Nevertheless, TNT-like, long filopodial processes had already been described in the last century as connecting facing, growing microvessels during the process of cerebral cortex vascularization and collateralization. Here we have investigated the possible presence and the cellular origin of TNTs during normal brain vascularization and also in highly vascularized brain tumors.

The aim of this study was to report the clinical features, management, and outcome of complete hydatidiform mole with a coexisting viable fetus. Two cases are reported. In both cases ultrasound examination demonstrated a normally growing live fetus alongside a normal placenta and an additional intrauterine echogenic mass with features of hydatidiform mole. The hCG levels were significantly increased and fetal karyotypes were normal. A cesarean section performed at 28 weeks' gestation in the first case and at 26 weeks' gestation in the second one resulted in the delivery of live normal infant and two adjoining placentas in both cases. Microscopic examination of the abnormal placentas confirmed complete hydatidiform mole. The babies did well and serial maternal serum hCG levels showed a declining trend and were undetectable by a few months after delivery. Continuation of a twin pregnancy with complete hydatidiform mole (CHMF) is an acceptable option. There is, although, an increased risk of developing maternal and fetal complications. Close surveillance of an ongoing pregnancy is compulsory to detect potential early signs of complications.

A common anatomical consequence of low-segment cesarean section is the presence of a pouch on the anterior uterine wall that can be detected by sonography or hysteroscopy. Different suturing techniques have been compared (single vs double layer) and showed no substantial differences. This prospective longitudinal study was aimed at evaluating the outcome of the cesarean scar, comparing two different types of single-layer sutures by transvaginal ultrasound and hysteroscopy.

to analyze a case of uterine rupture in a pregnant woman that had a previous laparoscopic myomectomy.