Traditional POP main mode of contraceptive action: thickening of cervical mucus Desogestrel-only POP main mode of contraceptive action is inhibition of ovulation Cerazette® is the only Desogestrel-only POP in the options above. Other desogestrel brands include: Aizea® Cerelle® Nacrez® The other POPs listed are considered traditional POPs and have the following compositions: Norgeston® – Levonorgestrel 30 mcg Micronor® & Noriday® – Norethisterone 350 mcg Femulen® – Ethynediol diacetate 500 mcg

During pregnancy, the chances for a woman to develop oral candidiasis double. An aphthous ulcer has a yellowish floor which is surrounded by an erythematous halo while in lichen planus, the lesions do not have the appearance of a thick white mark but are more or less lace-like. The lesions in leucoplakia have raised edges and they appear as bright white patches which are sharply defined and cannot be rubbed out. Smoking may affect the tongue, producing tongue coating. In this case the tongue is just inflamed which is a sign of infection.

Asherman syndrome (intrauterine adhesions or intrauterine synechiae) occurs when scar tissue forms inside the uterus and/or the cervix. These adhesions occur after surgery of the uterus or after a dilatation and curettage.

Patients with Asherman syndrome may have light or absent menstrual periods (amenorrhea). Some have normal periods based on the surface area of the cavity that is affected. Others have no periods but have severe dysmenorrhea (pain with menstruation).

Although two-dimensional sonography may suggest adhesive disease, Asherman syndrome is more often evaluated initially with saline sonography or hysterosalpingography to demonstrate the adhesions.

Breakthrough bleeding, or spotting, refers to when vaginal bleeding occurs between menstrual cycles. It may look like light bleeding or brown discharge.

Spotting is the most common side effect of birth control pills. It happens because the body is adjusting to changing levels of hormones, and the uterus is adjusting to having a thinner lining.

Taking the pill as prescribed, usually every day and at the same time each day, can help prevent bleeding between periods.

All other options are incorrect as this is a common side effect and will resolve on its own.

Labour induction is indicated as no fetal movements have been felt for 24 hours, with a normal cardiotocograph (CTG) and the pregnancy is at near/full term with a favourable cervix.

Amniotic fluid volume assessment would have been indicated 24 hours earlier as, if it was low, induction would have been indicated then, despite a normal CTG.

Ultrasound examination of the foetus is not indicated as it is necessary to expedite delivery.

Carrying out another CTG, with or without oxytocin challenge, is not indicated, although MG monitoring during induced labour would be mandatory.

Delivery immediately by Caesarean section is not indicated unless the lack of fetal movements is due to fetal hypoxia. This can result in fetal distress during labour, necessitating an emergency Caesarean section if the cervix is not fully dilated.

As the time of onset of fever is the 4th day of postpartum and absence of uterine tenderness on exam makes infection of vaginal laceration the most likely cause of this presentation.

Exquisite uterine tenderness will be experienced in case of endometritis and symptoms are expected to start much earlier like by 2-3 days of postpartum.

UTI is often expected on days one or two of postpartum, also there are no urinary symptoms suggestive of UTI

Breast engorgement usually develops by 7th -2st day of postpartum and in the given case it’s too soon for it to occur.

As it is expected during the first 2 hours postpartum, Atelectasis is unlikely to be the cause of symptoms in the given case.

Overt hypertension, developing in about 5% of Pill users, and increases in blood pressure (but within normal limits) in many more is believed to be the result of changes in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, particularly a consistent and marked increase in the plasma renin substrate concentrations. The mechanisms for the hypertensive response are unclear since normal women may demonstrate marked changes in the renin system. A failure of the kidneys to fully suppress renal renin secretion could thus be an important predisposing factor. These observations provide guidelines for the prescription of oral contraceptives. A baseline blood pressure measurement should be obtained, and blood pressure and weight should be followed at 2- or 3-month intervals during treatment. Oral contraceptive therapy should be contraindicated for individuals with a history of hypertension, renal disease, toxaemia, or fluid retention. A positive family history of hypertension, women for whom long-term therapy is indicated, and groups such as blacks, especially prone to hypertensive phenomena, are all relative contraindications for the Pill.

COCs do not increase the risk of developing breast and endometrial cancer, Type 2 DM or breast fibroadenoma.

At the time of delivery, the most important signs of complete placental separation are lengthening of the umbilical cord, per vaginal bleeding and change in shape of uterus from discoid to globular shape. The uterus contracts in size and rises upward.

Uterine atony and failure of contraction and retraction of myometrial muscle fibres can lead to rapid and severe haemorrhage and hypovolemic shock. Poor myometrial contraction can result from fatigue due to prolonged labour or rapid forceful labour, especially if stimulated.

In an ECG the P wave represents atrial depolarization. The QRS complex represents the ventricular depolarization, T waves represent ventricular repolarization and the U wave represents repolarization of the interventricular septum.

Cases with spontaneous rupture of membrane before the onset of labour, prior to 37 weeks of gestation is defined as preterm premature rupture of membranes(PPROM). It complicates almost 2-4% of all singleton and 7- 20% of twin pregnancies and is commonly associated with more than 60% of all preterm births.

Management of PPROM In the absence of chorioamnionitis, depends on the gestational age. That is in cases of PPROM before 23 weeks, labor may be induced or the patient be sent home for bed rest and is asked to wait until any signs of spontaneous delivery to start. Between 23 and 34 + 0/7 weeks, the patient should be transferred to a tertiary hospital and be admitted there as it is very important to administer systemic corticosteroids, for the fetal lung to attain maturity. It is also mandatory the patient gets adequate bed rest, cervical and vaginal swabs for microscopy and culture, along with prophylactic antibiotics for prevention of chorioamnionitis.
NOTE –  regardless of the gestational age, chorioamnionitis is said to be an absolute indication for the termination of pregnancy.

In the given case, patient is currently in her 28th week of gestation, so she should be immediately transferred to a tertiary hospital and given systemic steroids to promote fetal lung maturation in case preterm delivery ensues.

For pregnant women who are screened and rubella antibody is not detected, rubella vaccination after pregnancy should be advised. Vaccination during pregnancy is contraindicated because of a theoretical risk that the vaccine itself could be teratogenic, as it is a live vaccine. No cases of congenital rubella syndrome resulting from vaccination during pregnancy have been reported. However, women who are vaccinated postpartum should be advised to use contraception for three months.

In the period immediately after the delivery of the placenta, known as the puerperium, the female reproductive system begins to undergo some physiological changes to return to a non-pregnant state. One of these changes is uterine involution. The myometrium contracts, constricting blood vessels which impedes blood flow. It is thought that the uterine tissues then undergo apoptosis and autophagy. It takes about 4-6 weeks for the uterus to decrease is size from about 1 kg to 60 grams.

The external anal sphincter is innervated by the inferior rectal branch of the pudendal nerve (S2-4) while the internal anal sphincter is innervated by autonomic nerves.

The most suitable treatment would be to use intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in IVF. If hyperprolactinemia was the isolated underlying cause for the infertility, then treatment with a dopamine agonist would be suitable. However, since it is not the sole contributing factor, it is unlikely to be effective in this case. The same reasoning can be applied to the use of danazol to treat any remaining endometriosis.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment (including gonadotrophin injections) that would improve the severely abnormal semen specimen. The most appropriate option would be to use intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with IVF. Through this method, any remaining tubal issues would be bypassed. Furthermore, it would be useful in mild endometriosis cases and would also treat the amenorrhea resulting from hyperprolactinemia. There is no justification to perform another laparoscopy to either check or treat endometriosis or any remaining tubal obstruction.

Dizygotic twin pregnancies are known to increase with age of the mother. Naturally conceived twins are thought to occur in a 0.3% rate in women under 25 years, 1.4% between 25 and 34, 3% between 34 and 39, and 4.1% in women in their 40s or over. We also know that at least 50% of all twin pregnancies are conceived through ART and that this proportion is probably higher for women in their 40s.

Tocolysis is an obstetrical procedure to prolong gestation in patients, some of which are experiencing preterm labour. This is achieved through various medications that work to inhibit contractions of uterine smooth muscle.

There is no definitive first-line tocolytic agent by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) but nifedipine is most commonly used. However, in severe aortic stenosis, nifedipine can cause ventricular collapse and dysfunction.

The therapeutic target in the treatment of preterm labour is currently the pharmacological inhibition of uterine contractions with the use of various tocolytic agents. Tocolytic agents are used to maintain pregnancy for 24–48 hours to allow corticosteroids administration to act and to permit the transfer of the mother to a centre with a neonatal intensive care unit.

Oxytocin inhibitors work by competitively acting at the oxytocin receptor site. Oxytocin acts to increase the intracellular levels of inositol triphosphate. The medications currently in this class are atosiban and retosiban. Maternal nor fetal side effects have not been described for this tocolytic.

Risk of fibroids is more common among African ethnicity and is also related to obesity and early puberty. The role of combined oral contraceptive pills is still debatable and its results are conflicting, whereas the risk of fibroids decreases with the increase in number of pregnancies. i.e. multiparous women have a lower risk of fibroids.

These are the six routine blood tests that every mum-to-be has to undergo around week 7 of pregnancy: Full Blood Count, Blood Typing, Hepatitis B Screening, Syphilis Screening, HIV Screening and Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT)

Gestational diabetes (GDM) occurs in 2–9 per cent of all pregnancies. Screening for diabetes in pregnancy can be justify ed to diagnose previously unrecognized cases of pre-existing diabetes and to identify a group of women who are at risk of developing NIDDM later in life. No single screening test has been shown to be perfect in terms of high sensitivity and specific city for gestational diabetes. Urinary glucose is unreliable, and most screening tests now rely on blood glucose estimation, with an oral glucose tolerance test commonly used. The aim of glucose control is to keep fasting levels between 3.5 and 5.5 mmol/L and postprandial levels 7.1 mmol/L, with insulin treatment usually indicated outside these ranges. There are various risk factors for gestational diabetes including increasing age, ethnicity, previous still births etc.

Sodium Valproate is known to be the most teratogenic when used in the first trimester of pregnancy. This antiepileptic increases the risk of congenital malformations including a 10-20 fold risk of neurodevelopmental defects. Though the use of antiepileptics should generally be avoided during pregnancy, carbamazepine, or newer drugs such as Lamotrigine are thought to carry less of a risk of teratogenicity.

Although a dilatation and curettage (D&C) is frequently recommended as part of a woman’s menorrhagia examination.
D&C is not indicated in a woman who had a normal hysteroscopy and laparoscopy only two years ago, and who experienced comparable symptoms when not taking the OCP in the past, especially after the age of 40.
The Filshie clips should not be removed because they will not improve the symptoms.

Although an endometrial ablation or possibly a hysterectomy may be required in the future to address the symptoms, the first line of treatment should be a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which will reduce the loss in up to half of the women treated.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) or Streptococcus agalactiae is a Gram-positive bacteria which colonizes the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract. In the United States of America, GBS is known to be the most common infectious cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates. GBS is known to cause both early onset and late onset infections in neonates, but current interventions are only effective in the prevention of early-onset disease.

The main risk factor for early-onset GBS infection is colonization of the maternal genital tract with Group B Streptococcus during labour. GBS is a normal flora of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which is thought to be the main source for maternal colonization.

The principal route of neonatal early onset GBS infection is vertical transmission from colonized mothers during passage through the vagina during labour and delivery.

Intravenous penicillin G is the treatment of choice for intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis against Group B Streptococcus.

This patient had postmenopausal vaginal haemorrhage and an 8mm endometrial thickness. Endometrial thickness of 4mm or more in a postmenopausal woman with vaginal bleeding necessitates an endometrial biopsy to rule out endometrial cancer, and this patient should be referred to a gynaecologist for this procedure.
All of the other choices are incorrect.

In a non pregnant adult female the cardiac output is 4.5L/min, by the 20 week of pregnancy the cardiac output increases by 40% to 6.3L/min. During early stages of labour it increases further still by 17% to 7.3L/min.

The production of milk is regulated by the hormone Prolactin. Oxytocin on the other hand is responsible for the let down reflex that occurs during breast feeding.

Oestrogen can be produced by variety of organs including the corpus leuteum, placenta, adrenal glands and testes. However it is not produced by the anterior pituitary. The anterior pituitary produces LH and FSH which in turn causes oestrogen secretion.

In a postmenopausal woman, the ovaries should not be palpable; if they are, it should raise the concern that an ovarian malignancy is present. Before one would perform an operative evaluation, radiologic assessment should be done.

– Although this is an accepted regimen for oestrogen replacement therapy, the palpable ovaries need to be evaluated to rule out malignancy.
– Dual photon densitometry will give a reliable measure of bone density. Again, however, the palpable ovary is the first thing that needs to be worked up.
– Although surgical exploration may be warranted, initial workup of the adnexal mass should include an ultrasound along with tumour markers. A CT scan may also be warranted.

The luteinizing hormone (LH) surge during ovulation causes: Increases cAMP resulting in increased progesterone and PGF2 production PGF2 causes contraction of theca externa smooth muscle cells resulting in rupture of the mature oocyte

Hegar’s sign: softening of womb (uterus) due to its increased blood supply, perceptible on gentle finger pressure on the neck (cervix). This is one of the confirmatory signs of pregnancy and is usually obvious by the 16th week.