Computerized cardiotocography and short-term variation in management of obstetric cholestasis: A useful tool?

Objective. - To evaluate active management of obstetric cholestasis by comparing correlation between bile acid concentrations and computerized cardiotocography (Short-term variation [STV]). Patients and methods. - Retrospective analytic study about 51 obstetric cholestasis between January 2001 and August 2009. Demographic characteristics, bile acid concentrations and STV data were recorded since diagnosis to pregnancy with evaluation of fetal outcome. Results. - There were no statistical correlation between bile acid concentrations, STV data and fetal outcome. Patients with cholestasis diagnosed in second trimester delivered 12 days earlier than cholestasis diagnosed in third trimester (p=0.0012). Delivery before 37 weeks was found in 37.2% of cases. There were no perinatal deaths. Sixty percent had a recurrent obstetric cholestasis. Conclusion. - Further works are necessary to study the exact pathogeny of obstetric cholestasis in order to determinate the best surveillance. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.