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Prevalence, risk factors and pregnancy outcomes of women with vascular brain lesions in pregnancy

  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Vascular brain lesions (VBL) occur in up to 4.0% of the general population. With the increasing availability and use of sophisticated imaging techniques, there are more patients being diagnosed with asymptomatic intracranial AVMs and cavernous hemangiomas.

Objectives

Here we evaluate the association between VBL in pregnancy and the maternal and fetal outcomes.

Study design

The study cohort was identified by isolating all pregnancies from the nationwide inpatient sample (NIS), from the healthcare cost and utilization project (HCUP) over a five-year period. Within this cohort, cases with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) or cerebral vascular malformations (CVM) were identified and their prevalence was calculated. Baseline demographic characteristics were compared and the odds ratios for various complications and outcomes were calculated.

Results

Amongst 4,012,396 deliveries, VBL were identified in 214 cases: a prevalence of 5.33 cases per 100,000 deliveries. Majority of VBL cases were identified in women between 25 and 35 years of age, but the proportion of women aged 35 and older was greater amongst those patients with VBL. 74% of cases were of Caucasian race and more cases with VBL had a private insurance payer (62.1%). Seizure disorders were present in 63.6% of the cases with VBL. Whilst VBL are not associated with unfavorable obstetrical complications, they are more likely to be delivered by caesarean section (CS) − 79% of VBL cases were delivered by CS compared to 33% of the patients without VBL (OR 7.03 CI 95% 4.98–9.92). Instrumental delivery was performed in 10.3% of the vaginal deliveries for index cases. Index cases were less prone to fetal growth restriction. VBL accounted for 8.4% of 166 cases of intracranial bleeding occurring during the antepartum period within the entire pregnant population.

Conclusions

Presence of VBL does not appear to carry additional risk to mother or fetus during pregnancy

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Funding

Funding was obtained from our institution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Gil Shechter Maor, Majed S. Faden & Richard Brown

  2. Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Majed S. Faden

  3. Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Meir Medical Center, 59 Tcharnichovsky st., Kfar Saba, Israel

    Gil Shechter Maor

Authors
  1. Gil Shechter Maor
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  2. Majed S. Faden
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  3. Richard Brown
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Contributions

GSM: literature review, data collection, writing manuscript. MSF: data analysis. RB: manuscript writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gil Shechter Maor.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The MUHC-REB has decided that research using anonymized data obtained from the HCUP database does not require any further REB review.

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The Study was done at McGill university, Montreal, Canada. The corresponding author has changed institution after completing the study.

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Maor, G.S., Faden, M.S. & Brown, R. Prevalence, risk factors and pregnancy outcomes of women with vascular brain lesions in pregnancy. Arch Gynecol Obstet 301, 665–670 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-05451-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-05451-3

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