I found this journal article from what seems to be a reputable, peer-reviewed journal. It's not exactly a great study, but I found it interesting:
Abstract
Parents are usually told that many anencephalic offspring die in utero or soon after delivery, and many obstetricians offer elective termination of the pregnancy. Following the personal experience of the first author, a personal website was created with the intention of providing information and exchanging views with other parents confronted with a prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly. Data were collected from 211 pregnancies where the parents opted not to terminate pregnancy. These data revealed that polyhydramnios was a feature in 56 (26%) pregnancies, death in utero in 15 (7%) pregnancies, 72 (34%) babies were born prematurely (<37 weeks of gestation), 113 (53%) at term and 21 (10%) after 42 weeks. Stillbirth, presumably resulting from intrapartum death, occurred in 43 (20%) deliveries. One hundred and fifty-three (72%) of anencephalic offspring were liveborn, of those, 103 (67%) died within 24 hours but 6/211 survived 6 or more days (maximum 28 days). Continuation of pregnancy after a diagnosis of anencephaly is medically safe and should be considered as an option
Jaquier, M., Klein, A. and Boltshauser, E. (2006), Spontaneous pregnancy outcome after prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 113: 951–953. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.01014.x
Table 1. Spontaneous outcome of 211 pregnancies after prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly (summary) n % Sex Female 122 58 Male 89 42 Twins (one affected) 22 10 Triplets (one affected) 1 Polyhydramnios 56 27 Death in utero (prenatal death) 15 7 Gestation (weeks) <37 72 34 37–42 113 54 >42 21 10 Not determined 3 Delivery, caesarean section 55 26 Survival Prenatal death 15 7 Stillbirth (intrapartum death) 43 20 Liveborn 153 72 Death within Day 1 103 49 (67% of liveborn) In first hour 41 19 (27% of liveborn) Second hour–24 hour 62 29 (40% of liveborn) Day 2–5 39 18 (25% of liveborn) Day 6–9 5 2 (3% of liveborn) Day 10–28 6 3 (4% of liveborn)
Spontaneous pregnancy outcome after prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly Jaquier 2006 BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Wiley Online Library
I also found an answer to a question that had been bugging me: Denali does not sleep. I kind of suspected that she didn't because her movements are so random, but I wasn't sure. Persons in a persistent vegetative state still have sleep/wake cycles, but anencephalic babies do not. I also thought that the article, although dated, had some pretty good evidence that her organs can be donated. We might need to be at a larger academic hospital for that to happen, but I'm still really interested in donating. I know a pediatrician here in town and I might ask her if she has any experience dealing with pediatric organ transplantation. And anencephaly in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment