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Chapter 56 - Threatened and Actual Preterm Labor (Content last reviewed: 14th December 2020)

from Section 6 - Late Prenatal – Obstetric Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2017

By
Natasha L. Hezelgrave  and
Andrew H. Shennan
Edited by
David James ,
Philip Steer ,
Carl Weiner ,
Bernard Gonik  and
Stephen Robson
David James
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Philip Steer
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
Carl Weiner
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Bernard Gonik
Affiliation:
Wayne State University, Detroit
Stephen Robson
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle
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Summary

Despite the long-term focus on its prevention, preterm birth remains the leading cause of neonatal death, and the second leading cause of under-5 mortality, after pneumonia, worldwide. Of those babies who survive, many have severe long-term physical and neurodevelopmental morbidity. Management options for pregnant women with threatened preterm birth focus on delaying delivery using tocolysis, and administering antenatal therapy such as corticosteroids and, more recently, magnesium sulfate (for fetal lung development and neuroprotection respectively) to improve outcome for the infant once born. Given that most women who present with preterm contractions do not go on to deliver preterm infants, the challenge is to identify the appropriate recipients of these therapies.

Type
Chapter
Information
High-Risk Pregnancy
Management Options
 , pp. 1623 - 1653
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
First published in: 2017

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