A prospective study was made of clinical symptoms, liver function and pregnancy prognosis in women with cholestasis of pregnancy (CP). We used several positive and negative criteria to allow a clinical definition of CP as itching limited to time of pregnancy with or without laboratory evidence of liver dysfunction. The incidence during 1971-74 was 1.5% (100/6798 women) and lower during 1980-82 (52/5441 = 1.0%). One hundred consecutive pregnant women without itching were used as clinical controls. The incidence of CP showed a distinct seasonal variation, culminating in November. Women with CP had often had itching during previous pregnancies and during use of contraceptive pills and described anamnestically itching in mother and sisters. Laboratory data in CP were compared with reference intervals for healthy pregnant women. Serum enzyme levels were significantly increased for serum alkaline phosphatase, 5-nucleotidase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in the second and especially in the third trimester. The enzyme distribution was often markedly skewed to the right, i.e. some patients reacted more than others. Most patients with cholestasis only had itching without pronounced abnormalities in laboratory data. This mild form of CP was associated with a good prognosis for both mother and child.

Reference values have been collected for 11 chemical blood serum components during the three trimesters of pregnancy in 100 healthy pregnant women. The results used for reference intervals are presented as 2.5, 50 and 97.5 percentiles. Especially regarding S-Albumin, S-Alkaline phosphatase and S-5'-Nucleotidase the changes were most pronounced during the third trimester. S-Gammaglutamyl-transferase did not change significantly during pregnancy. For S-Aspartate aminotransferase and S-Alanine amino-transferase there were no significant changes in the mean values during the three different trimester periods. In the third trimester the frequency distribution of the enzymes became skewed to the right, i.e. in some women the enzyme activities increased noticeably more than in others. S-Na showed a significant decrease even during the first trimester and this lowering was slightly more pronounced during the second and third trimesters. S-Ca decreased in parallel with S-Albumin concentration. The changes in S-CaAlbumin-corrected were distinctly smaller than those in S-CaTotal. Throughout pregnancy, S-K, S-Bilirubin and S-Thymol turbitidy test values did not deviate from non-pregnant levels.

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Absfruct: 172 patients with endometriosis were investigated. 125 were trying to conceive at the time of treatment. The following are the salient points of the investigation.(1) 64% of the patients with a desire for pregnancy at the time of treatment had primary sterility. (2) No correlation between the duration of sterility in years and the development of adhesions was found.(3) The surgical findings were of importance in predicting the chances of a pregnancy. If only simple endometrial cysts were present, the chance of becoming pregnant after the operation was almost SO%, whereas if cysts and adhesions existed, only 40% of patients conceived. (4) The duration of previous sterility was not found to affect the prospects of pregnancy. ( 5 ) The frequency of abortion was markedly reduced after the operation.

In 24 conscious unilaterally pregnant rabbits the spontaneous and oxytocin‐induced uterine activity was recorded by either one or two sponge‐tipped catheters placed in each horn. In the pregnant horn the catheters were placed between the fetal membranes and the uterine wall. The recordings were repeated daily during the last days of pregnancy, for 4 to 8 days post partum, and thereafter at longer intervals for up to several weeks. The pregnant horn was consistently more active and more sensitive to oxytocin than the sterile horn up to about 1 week after delivery, when the difference disappeared. Intravenous vasopressin injections up to 0.05 IU did not increase the activity in either horn.