Objective: The objectives of this review were to identify the predictive factors of induction of labor (IOL) failure or success as well as to highlight the current heterogeneity regarding the definition and diagnosis of failed IOL. Materials and Methods: Only studies in which the main or secondary outcome was failed IOL, defined as not entering the active phase of labor after 24 h of prostaglandin administration ± 12 h of oxytocin infusion, were included in the review. The data collected were: study design, definition of failed IOL, induction method, IOL indications, failed IOL rate, cesarean section because of failed IOL and predictors of failed IOL. Results: The database search detected 507 publications. The main reason for exclusion was that the primary or secondary outcomes were not the predetermined definition of failed IOL (not achieving active phase of labor). Finally, 7 studies were eligible. The main predictive factors identified in the review were cervical status, evaluated by the Bishop score or cervical length. Discussion: Failed IOL should be defined as the inability to achieve the active phase of labor, considering that the definition of IOL is to enter the active phase of labor. A universal definition of failed IOL is an essential requisite to analyze and obtain solid results and conclusions on this issue. An important finding of this review is that only 7 of all the studies reviewed assessed achieving the active phase of labor as a primary or secondary IOL outcome. Another conclusion is that cervical status remains the most important predictor of IOL outcome, although the value of the parameters explored up to now is limited. To find or develop predictive tools to identify those women exposed to IOL who may not reach the active phase of labor is crucial to minimize the risks and costs associated with IOL failure while opening a great opportunity for investigation. Therefore, other predictive tools should be studied in order to improve IOL outcome in terms of health and economic burden.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of unknown cause, which mainly affects women of childbearing age, especially between 15 and 55 years of age. During pregnancy, SLE is associated with a high risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Among the most frequent complications are spontaneous abortion, fetal death, prematurity, intrauterine Fetal growth restriction (FGR), and preeclampsia (PE). The pathophysiology underlying obstetric mortality and morbidity in SLE is still under investigation, but several studies in recent years have suggested that placental dysfunction may play a crucial role. Understanding this association will contribute to developing therapeutic options and improving patient management thus reducing the occurrence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in this group of women. In this review, we will focus on the relationship between SLE and placental insufficiency leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of mid‐trimester sonographic cervical consistency index (CCI) for the prediction of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) in low‐risk pregnancies and to compare its performance with that of mid‐trimester sonographic cervical‐length (CL) measurement.Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of women with a singleton pregnancy examined by ultrasound at 19 + 0 to 24 + 6 weeks' gestation. All women underwent transvaginal ultrasound examination of the cervix, but CCI and CL were measured, offline, only in women without a risk factor for sPTB. Staff and participants were blinded to CL and CCI results. CCI was obtained by calculating the ratio between the anteroposterior diameter of the uterine cervix at maximum compression and at rest. The primary outcome was prediction of sPTB before 37 + 0 weeks. Receiver–operating characteristics (ROC) curves were produced and sensitivity and specificity were calculated for the optimal cut‐off based on the ROC curve and for the 1^st, 5^th and 10^th centiles of CCI and CL. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland–Altman plots were used to estimate intra‐ and interobserver agreement and reliability for measurement of CCI and CL.Results: Of the 749 women who underwent ultrasound examination of the cervix, 532 were included for analysis. The rates of sPTB before 37 + 0 and before 34 + 0 weeks were 4.1% (22/532) and 1.3% (7/532), respectively. The rates of short cervix < 25 mm and ≤ 20 mm were 0.9% (5/532) and 0.4% (2/532), respectively. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) with regard to predicting sPTB before 37 + 0 weeks was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.75–0.93) for CCI compared with 0.68 (95% CI, 0.56–0.81) for CL (P = 0.03). The optimal cut‐off based on the ROC curve was 64.6% for CCI (sensitivity, 77.3%; specificity, 82.7%) and that for CL was 37.9 mm (sensitivity, 72.7%; specificity, 61.2%). The AUC with regard to predicting sPTB before 34 + 0 weeks was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.71–1.0) for CCI compared with 0.71 (95% CI, 0.47–0.94) for CL (P = 0.25). The optimal cut‐off based on the ROC curve was 63.6% for CCI (sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 84.0%) and that for CL was 37.9 mm (sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 61.3%). Intraobserver ICC was > 0.90 both for CCI and CL, while interobserver ICC was 0.89 for CCI and 0.90 for CL.Conclusions: Second‐trimester CCI is a better predictor of sPTB < 37 weeks in low‐risk pregnancies than is CL. External validation is needed as well as studies assessing the value of CCI as a screening tool in unselected and high‐risk populations. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Background Short cervical length (CL) has not been shown to be adequate as a single predictor of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) in high-risk pregnancies. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the mid-trimester cervical consistency index (CCI) to predict sPTB in a cohort of high-risk pregnancies and to compare the results with those obtained with the CL. Study Design Prospective cohort study including high-risk singleton pregnancies between 19⁺⁰ and 24⁺⁶ weeks. The ratio between the anteroposterior diameter of the uterine cervix at maximum compression and at rest was calculated offline to obtain the CCI. Results Eighty-two high sPTB risk women were included. CCI (%) was significantly reduced in women who delivered <37⁺⁰ weeks compared with those who delivered at term, while CL was not. The area under the curve (AUC) of the CCI to predict sPTB <37⁺⁰ weeks was 0.73 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.61–0.85), being 0.51 (95% CI, 0.35–0.67), p = 0.03 for CL. The AUC of the CCI to predict sPTB <34⁺⁰ weeks was 0.68 (95% CI, 0.54–0.82), being 0.49 (95% CI, 0.29–0.69), p = 0.06 for CL. Conclusion CCI performed better than sonographic CL to predict sPTB. Due to the limited predictive capacity of these two measurements, other tools are still needed to better identify women at increased risk. This study was presented at “The 2017 37th Annual Pregnancy Meeting,” Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Las Vegas, NV, January 26, 2017. Control ID 1517, Program ID 309, Poster session II.