Scroll Up
Scroll Down
Play Play Play Play
Unregistered User
Click here if this is not your Personal Edition
 
Contact Us | Free E-Mail Updates | Journals | Register a colleague
 
 
Pregnancy
 
   
 
SEARCH   
Doctor's Guide Free CME
Medline
Congress Resource Centre
 

 EXPLORE :
   Most Read News
 All News  All News
 All Webcasts / CME  All Webcasts / CME
 All Cases  All Cases
 Congress Resource Centre  Congress Resource Centre
 All Medical Resources  All Medical Resources
 Medical  My Personal Edition



Warning | Privacy

 

 
 Recent news - Pregnancy
    Women With MS No More Likely to Have Pregnancy Complications Than General Population - (DGNews)
    TopAbstracts in Pregnancy 11/24/2009 - (DGNews)
    Pre-eclampsia, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, and the risk of reduced thyroid function: nested case-control and population based study - (BMJ)
    Study Finds Link Between Preeclampsia and Reduced Thyroid Function - (DGNews)
    TopAbstracts in Pregnancy 11/17/2009 - (DGNews)

    News archive

     Recent webcasts/CME - Pregnancy
    • Improving Epilepsy Management Throughout the Disease Continuum
    • Pregnancy Planning and Preconception Health Care for HIV-Infected Individuals and Couples
      Luteal Support in Reproduction
      Managing the Critically Ill Pregnant Patient
      HIV Testing Update

      Webcasts/CME archive

       Recent cases - Pregnancy
        There May be a Link Between Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy and Familial Combined Hyperlipidaemia: A Case Report
        Recurrent Spontaneous Pneumothorax During Pregnancy: A Case Report
        Damage Control Surgery by Keeping the Abdomen Open During Pregnancy: Favorable Outcome, A Case Report
        A Life Threatening Uterine Inversion and Massive Post Partum Hemorrhage Caused by Placenta Accrete During Caesarean Section in a Primigravida: A Case Report
        HELLP Syndrome, Multiple Liver Infarctions, and Intrauterine Fetal Death in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome

        Cases archive
          




        my personal edition > pregnancy > news
        divider

          E-Mail this DGNews to a colleague

        DGNews


        Endocannabinoid Levels in Pregnant Women Linked to Risk of Miscarriage

        LEICESTER, United Kingdom -- March 24, 2008 -- A medical team from the University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, has been able to establish for the first time a predictor for pregnant women who may have miscarriages and those who won't. Their research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

        The researchers measured the levels of anandamide, an endocannabinoid, in women who presented with a threatened miscarriage. They found that those who at the time of the test had significantly higher levels of anandamide subsequently miscarried.

        Study author Professor Justin Konje, Head, Endocannabinoid Research Group, Reproductive Sciences Section, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, University of Leicester, noted, "We are extremely excited by these findings. Essentially, we have for the first time been able to use the levels of this naturally occurring cannabis, anandamide, in 45 women presenting with threatened miscarriage and a viable pregnancy to predict the eventual outcome of the pregnancy. Using a threshold we defined from this study, we were able to predict all the women who then went on to have a subsequent miscarriage and 94% of those who went on to have a live birth.

        "This is the first time that this has been reported. It has very significant implications, and if the results are replicated, we would eventually be able to reassure women who present with bleeding in early pregnancy about the outcome of their pregnancies.

        "Obviously for those whose pregnancies are identified by this measurement as destined to end in a miscarriage, knowing this may cause grief and upset, but it may also help them to come to terms quickly with the outcome of the pregnancies.

        "This is the first stage of this study, but the results are very encouraging, and we are undertaking further studies to confirm our observations. Once these are confirmed, we plan to develop a bedside test which could then be applied in clinical practice."

        In the paper, the authors state that approximately 40% to 50% of all human conceptions are lost before 20 weeks of gestation. They conclude: "In this pilot study of women with threatened miscarriage, high plasma anandamide level was associated with subsequent miscarriage. The study is limited by the small number of participants and requires replication in larger and more diverse populations. Compared with tests based on peripheral blood mononuclear cells, anandamide-level measurement has an advantage of being based on whole blood and not requiring separation. If established as valid and clinically practical, anandamide measurement has the potential for improving the prediction and counselling of women presenting with threatened miscarriages."

        The study was funded by income from the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and by PerkinElmer through a grant to support the Endocannabinoid Research Laboratory of Professor Konje. The British United Provident Association Foundation funded some of the consumables used for the laboratory analysis.


        SOURCE: University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom



        E-Mail this DGNews to a colleague   To print, use this version






        All contents Copyright (c) 1995-2009 Doctor's Guide Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.



        The NTK initiative. Physicians helping physicians identify Need-To-Know science
           Feedback
        Please rate this article: Strongly DISAGREE...Strongly AGREE NTK logo
        Question 1 - Physicians need to become aware of this information as soon as possible. Question 2 - This information is likely to have an impact on the way physicians practice medicine.
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        7
        Send