Mediators of cervical ripening in preterm birth: Experimental and clinical investigations Susanne Abelin Törnblom, MD Department of Women and Child Health, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital Solna, S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden Background: Preterm birth (PTB) is by far the leading worldwide cause of infant mortality and morbidity. Despit...

OBJECTIVE To explore the feasibility of using shear wave speed (SWS) estimates to detect differences in cervical softening pre- and post-ripening in women undergoing induction of labor. METHODS Subjects at 37-41 weeks' gestation undergoing cervical ripening before induction of labor were recruited (n = 20). Examinations, performed prior to administration of misoprostol and 4 h later included ...

Prostaglandins (PGs) mediate cervical ripening leading to parturition. PGs are used successfully to induce cervical ripening. However, the cell type specific expression of PG receptor subtypes and various stromal factors important for cervical ripening in human cervix is not known. Our objective was to investigate the expression and localization of PG receptors EP1-4 and FP and localization of ...

Preterm birth (PTB), or birth before 37 weeks gestation, is the leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide. Cervical viral infections have been established as risk factors for PTB in women, although the mechanism leading to increased risk is unknown. Using a mouse model of pregnancy, we determined that intra-vaginal HSV2 infection caused increased rates of preterm birth following an intra-va...

To clarify the role of leucocytes in human cervical ripening and dilatation, cervical biopsies were obtained from six non-pregnant women, eight women undergoing early termination of pregnancy, 18 pregnant women undergoing elective Caesarean section at term (both with and without a ripe cervix as determined by Bishop score) and 11 women after term vaginal delivery. Leucocytes were localised by i...

OBJECTIVE To describe the pattern of labor progression and risk of cesarean delivery in women whose labor was electively induced. METHODS We analyzed data on all low-risk, nulliparous women with an elective induction or spontaneous onset of labor between 37 + 0 and 40 + 6 weeks from January 2002 to March 2004 at a single institution. The median duration of labor by each centimeter of cervical...

BACKGROUND Human cervical ripening is an inflammatory process. In labour at term the mRNA-levels and protein concentrations for interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8 in cervix significantly increase. The aim of this study was to investigate if there are differences in the inflammatory process of preterm and term cervical ripening. METHODS Cervical biopsies from 50 singleton pregnant women without cli...