Mother-to-child transmission Archives - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

The reduction of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the HIV-1 using zidovudine (ZDV) represents a cornerstone in the prenatal and obstetrical care to these patients. The invasive fetal and obstetric procedures are proscribed in HIV-1 infected pregnant patients, to avoid the increased risk of MTCT of this virus. The authors present a case of an HIV-1 infected woman with recurrent polyhydramnios. Four ultrasound-guided amniotic punctures were performed in the 23rd, 26th, 27th and 29th weeks of gestation, each one draining the respective volumes of 1,800, 1,450, 1,700 and 1,960 ml of clear amniotic fluid. The patient started preterm labor with 30 weeks and 5 days resulting in vaginal delivery of a male neonate weighing 1,690g and measuring 43cm. The baby presented a post natal diagnosis of a sodium-losing nephropathy and was submitted to three negative polymerase chain reaction tests for HIV-1. The authors point out that the option to manage cases of HIV-1 infected pregnancies that could need invasive obstetric procedures should be to give the patient 2 mg//kg of ZDV endovenously before the procedure, in order to avoid MTCT of HIV-1, as it has demonstrated good results in this case.