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Show Radioactive Isotopes Being Used in Disease Diagnosis A new study on the use of radioactive isotopes for earlier diagnosis of placenta previa, a serious complication of the birth process, is reported this week by three Florida doctors in a recent issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gyne-cology, official journal of the American College of Obstetricians Obstetri-cians and Gynecololists, reports the Utah State Medical Assn. The placenta, commonly called afterbirth, is the organ which connects the mother with her unborn baby to permit passage of food, oxygen and waste products. prod-ucts. Normally, the placenta is safely located above the baby. However, sometimes it becomes attached instead to the lower part of the mother's uterus near the birth canal and thus ahead of the baby during birth. Serious complications can result from the weight or pressure of the baby upon it unless preventive measures meas-ures are begun. Among the complications com-plications are hemorrhaging by the mother and cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen to her unborn baby. Accurate vertical location of the placenta in 29 of 30 mothers studied by use of radioactive iodine is reported in the journal by Drs. Denis Cavanagh, who is a Fellow of ACOG, and Charles E. Powe and Albert J. Gilson of the Departments of Obstetrics-Gynecology Obstetrics-Gynecology and of Radiology, respectively, of the University of Miami School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fla. By introducing radioactive iodine into the mother's blood stream and applying an isotope counter, the authors were able to locate the placenta from its heavy concentration of blood. These findings were checked with examination at the time of delivery (from two hours to nine weeks later), revealing that 15 of the patients were correctly diagnosed as having normal placenta pla-centa and another 14 patients were correctly diagnosed as having hav-ing placenta previa. The 30th mother was thought to have placenta pla-centa previa but proved to have a normal placenta. The authors point out that this false positive diagnosis was made shortly before be-fore birth and that the patient had large varicose veins in the area of the heavy isotope count. "With good obstetric care the maternal mortality associated with placenta previa has been reduced to less than one percent. The realization that the condition condi-tion can be managed conservatively conserva-tively also has led to an increase in the number of infants saved." The treatment outlined includes in-cludes blood transfusions as needed and confining the patient to bed for at least three days. The use of Caesarean section for all but the most minor degrees of placenta previa has reduced the incidence of oxygen shortage for the infant during birth. The authors report that during a three year period a total of 632 women were admitted to the Jackson Memorial Hospital with bleeding symptoms during the last three months of pregnancy, of whom 80 had placenta previa. There were no maternal deaths among this latter group and four of five babies were saved, rilvaawei-bicaartandgspss ,kgst A henpecked weather man was describing his wife to a friend. "Hazel speaks at 150 words per minute, with gusts up to 180." A cynic is one who wants to : know why Noah didn't swat the two flies when he had the chance. |
