Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an acquired thrombophilia with clinical manifestations associated with the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in patient plasma. Obstetrical APS is a complex entity that may affect both mother and fetus throughout the entire pregnancy with high morbidity. Clinical complications are as various as recurrent fetal losses, stillbirth, intrauterine growt...

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease that leads to progressive muscle weakness and is common during female reproductive years. The myasthenic mother and her newborn must be observed carefully, as complications during all stages of pregnancy and the puerperium may arise suddenly. Preeclampsia is a common obstetrical condition for which magnesium sulfate is used for seizure prophyl...

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is defined by the association of arterial and/or venous thrombosis and/or pregnancy complications with the presence of at least one among the main antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) (i. e., Lupus anticoagulants, LA, IgG and/ or IgM anticardiolipin antibodies, aCL, IgG and/or IgM antiβ2-glycoprotein I antibodies, aβ2-GPI). Several clinical studies have consiste...

Symptomatic and asymptomatic Coxiella burnetii infection during pregnancy have been associated with obstetric complications. We described placental histopathology and clinical outcome of five cases with asymptomatic C. burnetii infection during pregnancy and compared these cases with four symptomatic cases from the literature. In contrast with the symptomatic cases, we did not observe necrosis ...

Pregnancy can be associated with significant risks for the mother and baby regardless of the presence of medical or obstetrical complications. In the presence of complications such as hypertension, multiple gestation, or prior cesarean delivery, the risks to the health of the mother and baby increase. Numerous studies, including two published in PLoS Medicine recently [1,2], have shown that ris...

Although the World Health Organization suggests 10-15% as the adequate cesarean delivery rate to assure optimal prognosis for mother and children, cesarean rates have continuously increased worldwide over the last three decades, even in primiparous women. Moreover, uterine scars after myomectomies, complications of obstetrical interventions and more recently, after fetal surgery, are often obse...