March 2016

Pregnancy and childbirth in women with autoimmune hepatitis is safe, even in compensated cirrhosis 

Scand J Gastro 51:479-85 (2016) 

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a liver disease that primarily affects women. A cohort study of 64 women with autoimmune hepatitis showed 41% had cirrhosis, preterm births rate was 22%, caesarean sections 17% and malformations 3%.

Pregnancy outcome after exposure to the novel oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban in women at suspected risk for thromboembolic events: a case series from the German Embryotox Pharmacovigilance Centre. Clinical research in cardiol 105:117-26 (2016). 63 pregnancies exposed during the first trimester to the oral anticoagulants rivaroxaban were followed-up. Treatment indications included venous thromboembolism, knee surgery, and atrial fibrillation. 37 pregnancies were prospectively ascertained and resulted in six spontaneous abortions, eight elective terminations of pregnancy, and 23 live births. All women had discontinued rivaroxaban after recognition of pregnancy, mostly in the first trimester. There was one major CVS malformation among the prospective pregnancies but this was in a case where there had been a previous foetus with a cardiac malformation without exposure to rivaroxaban.