Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:- There is a paucity of data describing the effects of COVID-19, especially in asymptomatic patients, on placental pathology. Although the pathophysiology of COVID-19 is not completely understood, there is emerging evidence that it causes a severe systemic inflammatory response and results in a hypercoagulable state with widespread microthrombi. We hypothesized that it is plausible that a similar disease process may occur in the fetal-maternal unit. OBJECTIVE:- The aim of this study was to determine whether COVID-19 in term patients admitted to Labor and Delivery, including women without COVID-19 symptomatology, is associated with increased placental injury compared to a cohort of COVID-19 negative controls. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS:- This was a retrospective cohort study performed at NYU Winthrop Hospital between 3/31/2020 and 6/17/2020. During the study period all women admitted to Labor and Delivery were routinely tested for SARS-CoV-2 regardless of symptomatology. The placental histopathological findings of COVID-19 patients (n=77) who delivered a singleton gestation at term were compared to a control group of term patients without COVID-19 (n=56). Controls were excluded if they had obstetric or medical complications including fetal growth restriction, oligohydramnios, hypertension, diabetes, coagulopathy or thrombophilia. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed for variables that were significant in univariable analyses. A subgroup analysis was also performed comparing asymptomatic COVID-19 cases to negative controls. RESULTS:- In univariable analyses, COVID-19 cases were more likely to have evidence of fetal vascular malperfusion, i.e. presence of avascular villi and/or mural fibrin deposition (32.5% (25/77) vs. 3.6% (2/56), p<0.0001) and villitis of unknown etiology (20.8% (16/77) vs. 7.1% (4/56), p=0.030). These findings persisted in a subgroup analysis of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases compared to COVID-19 negative controls. In a multivariable model adjusting for maternal age, race/ethnicity, mode of delivery, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction and oligohydramnios, the frequency of fetal vascular malperfusion abnormalities remained significantly higher in the COVID-19 group (OR= 12.63, 95% CI [2.40, 66.40]). While the frequency of villitis of unknown etiology was more than double in COVID-19 cases compared to controls, this did not reach statistical significance in a similar multivariable model (OR=2.11, 95% CI [0.50, 8.97]). All neonates of mothers with COVID-19 tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR. CONCLUSIONS:- Despite the fact that all neonates born to mothers with COVID-19 were negative for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR, we found that COVID-19 in term patients admitted to Labor and Delivery is associated with increased rates of placental histopathologic abnormalities, particularly fetal vascular malperfusion and villitis of unknown etiology. These findings appear to occur even among asymptomatic term patients.

OBJECTIVES/UNASSIGNED:To determine if the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes the diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) made on prenatal ultrasound (US) leading to an improvement in clinical outcomes. METHODS/UNASSIGNED:-test and Chi-squared test were performed to compare the clinical outcomes of patients with an upgraded diagnosis by MRI to those whose diagnosis was downgraded or stayed the same. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED: = 0.001]. There were no complications from these procedures. CONCLUSION/UNASSIGNED:The use of MRI incorrectly changed the diagnosis as much as it correctly changed the diagnosis of PAS after US. MRI should not be used routinely as a clinical adjunct to ultrasound in the diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum.

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:To determine if large for gestational age (LGA) diagnosed during second trimester ultrasound is associated with the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and LGA at birth. METHODS:percentile. Prenatal and delivery records were reviewed and demographic and outcome variables were collected. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to assess the impact of LGA at second trimester on the development of GDM and LGA at birth. RESULTS:There were 756 LGA and 756 AGA patients included in this study. In patients with LGA diagnosed during second trimester ultrasound, the incidence of GDM was 6% and the incidence of LGA at birth was 14.9%. Among patients with LGA in the second trimester, those who developed GDM or LGA at birth were significantly older, and were more likely to be obese. Moreover, parity was associated with neonatal LGA (P = 0.0003) but not with GDM at birth (P = 0.82). In adjusted analyses, LGA diagnosis during second trimester was significantly associated with GDM (OR 2.54; 95% CI: 1.29, 5.03) and neonatal LGA at birth (OR 6.85, 95% CI 3.60, 13.05; p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:LGA diagnosis during second trimester ultrasound is associated with the development of GDM and LGA at birth, independent of women with known risk factors, and could be used to identify these women earlier for intervention. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Scant literature exists on prenatally diagnosed infantile myofibromatosis (IM). We report a case of multicentric IM, which was first recognized as a soft-tissue paraspinal mass on prenatal sonography and subsequently characterized by MRI with pathological confirmation.