Drugs
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Pregnant women with epilepsy constitute 0.5% of all pregnancies. Proper seizure control is the primary goal in treating women with epilepsy. The commonly used anticonvulsants are established human teratogens. ⋯ The neonate should be assessed carefully for epilepsy and anticonvulsant-associated dysmorphology. Advising the patient on postpartum management regarding contraception and breast-feeding will help maximise the best possible outcome for the newborn and mother. With proper preconceptional, antenatal and postpartum management up to 95% of these pregnancies have been reported to have favourable outcomes.
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Tumour markers can aid in areas such as diagnosis, surveillance of recurrence, staging and prognosis. This article focuses on 2 tumour markers, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). These tumour markers have been examined for their utility as prognostic indicators in 2 different manners. ⋯ In some diseases, issues relating to timing of marker sampling when examining marker decline need to be studied in greater detail. Hopefully, marker decline studies can be duplicated in the other diseases, to document a potential role in determining outcome. Further studies are needed to test the ability to alter therapy in attempts to improve survival while decreasing toxicity to patients.