Antibiotics: Treatment of preterm labor
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T. Reimer
Abstract
Our intention is to review recent data and provide recommendations for the use of antibiotics in cases of preterm labor or preterm premature rupture of the membranes (pPROM). Various studies assessing antibiotics as treatment for preterm labor demonstrate neonatal or maternal benefits only in certain circumstances. Antibiotic treatment should be given to patients with bacterial vaginosis and Trichomonas vaginalis. Currently, antibiotics should not be applied routinely to prolong pregnancy in women with preterm labor and intact membranes. However, antibiotic therapy should be given to patients with pPROM to prolong pregnancies at 24 to 32 weeks' gestation. Our management of pPROM up to 32 weeks' gestation includes use of corticosteroids, antibiotic (extended spectrum penicillins) and tocolytic treatment for preterm labor and pregnancy prolongation. We consider expectant management previous to evidence of intrauterine infection. In women with pPROM at 32 to 34 weeks we found it beneficial to deliver 24 hours after administration of corticosteroids or, in cases of intrauterine infection, immediately. Finally, we report on our research work regarding fetal brain development in preterm birth. Further studies will be necessary to clarify the role of the interleukin-6/interleukin-6 receptor pathway in the development of intracerebral hemorrhage frequently occuring in premature infants.
Copyright (c)1999 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Markers of risk for preterm delivery
- Prenatal screening with evaluated high risk scores
- Prostaglandin dehydrogenase and the initiation of labor
- Antibiotics: Treatment of preterm labor
- Systematic reviews in perinatal medicine
- Changes in the cervical extracellular matrix during pregnancy and parturition
- Treating previable twin-twin transfusion syndrome with fetoscopic laser surgery: Outcomes following the learning curve
- Rapid development of hydrops fetalis in the donor twin following death of the recipient twin in twin-twin transfusion syndrome
- Congress Calendar
- Roster of Perinatal Societies
Articles in the same Issue
- Markers of risk for preterm delivery
- Prenatal screening with evaluated high risk scores
- Prostaglandin dehydrogenase and the initiation of labor
- Antibiotics: Treatment of preterm labor
- Systematic reviews in perinatal medicine
- Changes in the cervical extracellular matrix during pregnancy and parturition
- Treating previable twin-twin transfusion syndrome with fetoscopic laser surgery: Outcomes following the learning curve
- Rapid development of hydrops fetalis in the donor twin following death of the recipient twin in twin-twin transfusion syndrome
- Congress Calendar
- Roster of Perinatal Societies
