Antibioprophylaxy and urological management of women with spinal cord injury during pregnancy

Objective. - More and more women with spinal cord injury (SCI) can have a pregnancy. Few data have been published on these pregnancies and their urological impact. We report a series of these cases illustrating the urological experience of specialized centers. Methods. - This is a retrospective study that identified pregnancies in women with SCI followed-up between 2000 and 2014. Data covering all urological and obstetric events during pregnancies, before and after implementation of weekly oral cyclic antibiotics (WOCA) program, were collected from medical records. Results. - Fifteen women with SCI who gave birth to 20 children were included. Three of them were quadriplegics and 12 were paraplegics. All of them performed themselves intermittent catheterization: 11 by urethral way and 4 by high way because carrying a continent cystostomy. Mean follow-up period before pregnancy was 14.6 years [3-27 years IC 95%] and the mean follow-up for the study was 8.5 months [6.5-9 IC 95%]. We observed a reduction of symptomatic urinary tract infections after WOCA onset (13/13 before vs. 0/7 after, P=0.001), a reduction of recurrent urinary infections (6/13 vs. 0/7, P=0.03), a reduction of threats to premature births (8/13 vs. 0/7, P=0.001). Multi-resistant bacteria appeared to increase (0/13 vs. 3/7, P=0.01). We also observed a trend to significant reduction of premature births number (4/13 vs. 0/13, P=0.1) and that of low birth weight (3/13 versus 0/7, P=0.1). The overall neonatal survival rate was 100%. Conclusion. - Our study before/after introduction of a weekly oral cycle antibiotic prophylaxis during pregnancy for women with spinal cord injury showed a significant reduction in symptomatic urinary tract infections and a tendency to improve pregnancy outcomes. Level of evidence. 4. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.