Maternal gestational weight gain – is there a minimum?

30th May 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo

Obesity and GDM are the most common clinical risks in obstetric practice increasing the probability of a variety of pregnancy related complications compared to women with a normal BMI and normal glucose tolerance. These complications include pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), emergency caesarean sections (EMCS), pre-eclampsia (PE), post-partum haemorrhage (PPH), large-for-gestational age infants (LGA) and macrosomia.…

Sex hormones and eye abnormalities – how are they related?

11th January 2021, Dr Chee L Khoo

Sex hormones are not just responsible for the function of the reproductive system. They are also responsible for bone and cardiovascular health. Interestingly, they are produced, not only by the gonads, but also by other organs (1,2) including the central nervous system (CNS). Well, the eye is a neural structure and there is increasing evidence that oestrogens exert a neuro-protective role (3,4).…

In interventional radiology, sometimes you block vessels, other times you unblock them.

27th December, 2020, Spectrum Radiology

Interventional radiology

This month Dr Yehia El Hgar from Spectrum Interventional Radiology discuss two interesting cases: one a 39-year-old female with constant heaviness in the pelvis associated with urinary frequency and severe disabling menorrhagia and the other a 29-year-old female with a past history of left lower limb DVT and underwent a left iliac vein thrombectomy and venoplasty.…

Covid-19 and newborn – scary stuff?

25th October 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

Covid-19 and newborn

Although our numbers of new Covid-19 infections and community transmission is pretty good in comparison with most other countries in the world, it isn’t zero. This is as good as it gets for at least the next 12 months. One of the scariest things is transmission of the virus to the newborn if the pregnant mother has the Covid-19 infection.…

Can lifestyle measures prevent GDM?

12th October 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

We know from various diabetes prevention programs that intensive lifestyle interventions can be successful in reducing progression to diabetes. As GDM is more common in women with higher BMI and in the many high- risk groups and it is logical to ask the question “can we prevent GDM in these women?” If we could reduce progression of patients who has prediabetes to diabetes, we should, in theory, reduce prevalence of GDM in women who are at high risk of GDM.…

GDM Screening – Can HbA1c replace OGTT during the pandemic?

14th September 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

We have many patients who have borderline high fasting glucose in their routine check-up. In non-pregnant adults, we have been able to use HbA1c as a generic screening test for type 2 diabetes (T2D) for some time. Unfortunately, neither non-diabetic fasting glucose readings nor HbA1c totally exclude the presence of diabetes. I am sure you have come across patients with non-diabetic fasting glucose and HbA1c but yet fail their oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).…

GDM screening – who, when and how?

14th September 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

Tell me this is not, broadly, what you have in mind when you think about gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We know that hyperglycaemia and pregnancy does not mix well. GDM is not quite full-blown diabetes in pregnancy but is nonetheless, associated with risks for the mother and infant and with long-term metabolic consequences in both mother and child.…

Ultrasound at Spectrum – reduced waiting time

Spectrum Medical Imaging, 23rd August 2020

Spectrum Medical Imaging Liverpool is proud to announce the opening of 2 additional ultrasound rooms in our practice at 171 Bigge Street. This increased capacity will reduce waiting times for elective scans.

Spectrum is pleased to announce the installation of the latest Voluson™ ultrasound machine. The Voluson™ is a dedicated Obstetrics & Gynaecology machine which aids in problem solving complex cases using ground-breaking technology including unique foetal heart tools and using specialised ultrasound probes.…

Anti-depressants in pregnancy – which agent is less bad?

14th August 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

Most women would prefer not to take any medications during the pregnancy for fear of any potential teratogenic effects on the foetus. However, for some women, the use of anti-depressants is necessary. Managing these mental disorders during pregnancy and the post-partum period can be challenging (1-2) but effective management can maintain maternal and infant health (3), improve maternal prenatal health care practices (4) and improve maternal-infant attachment (5).…

Abbreviated breast MRI – how useful is it?

8th July 2020, Spectrum Radiology

Adjunct screening with dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI was first recommended for women at high (>20%) lifetime risk of breast cancer, facilitating earlier cancer detection and reducing interval cancers. Even in women at average risk of breast cancer, there is evidence that they might also benefit from screening MRI.

Apart from the cost of MRI equipment, other costs include the relatively long acquisition, limiting high-volume patient throughput and interpretation times involved in a full diagnostic protocol.…

Double thalassaemia – it’s more than double trouble

thalassaemia

22nd May 2020, Dr Chee L Khoo

Let’s imagine we have a pregnant woman who tested positive for β-thalassaemia trait (minor) on antenatal screening blood tests. If both partners carry the same thalassaemia trait, there is a 25% chance of having a baby with thalassaemia major. Thus, we are advised to screen her partner for thalassaemia as well. Say, the partner’s blood picture is normal with no microcytosis and high performance cation-exchange chromatography (HPLC) shows normal levels of HbA2 and HbF.…