Dr. Chapa’s Clinical Pearls. Podcast
1) Believe in Bed Rest for PTB? The AWARE Study
Neither the ACOG nor SMFM recommend strict bed rest for preterm birth prevention, or nor preeclampsia. Yet tradition often conflicts with evidence. A prior 2009 survey of MFM specialists, published in...Show More
2) Pregnancy and the Brain
A study published in Nature Communications, published Feb 19, 2026, found that “pregnancy physically alters a woman’s brain, with a second pregnancy bringing even more profound effects.” The researche...Show More
3) Hyst + BSO for BRCA Risk Reduction?
Approximately 5–10% of all breast cancers are hereditary, and among those, BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are responsible for about 60% of cases. Yet, overall, only about 1-2% of all breast cancers in the ...Show More
4) New Data: Screen Maternal Ferritin with Prenatal Care?
The ACOG states that, “Iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of low birth weight, preterm delivery, and perinatal mortality and should be treated with iron...Show More
5) Alex’s Input: Aspirin’s Awkward Acumen
We recently covered an SMFM abstract that was presented at the annual Pregnancy Meeting held in early February 2026. The authors were from my Alma Mater, UT Southwestern/Parkland Hospital. This was a ...Show More
6) More Support for 162mg LDA Universal Use in OB
Well, even though low dose aspirin has been recommended for the reduction of preeclampsia risk for many years, 2 controversies persist: 1. who should get it, and 2. the dose we should use. While the c...Show More
7) GDM vs “Early” GDM vs PrePreg DM: A Proposal
As BMIs and weights increase across the US population, there have been increased calls for universal screening for existing DM at entrance to prenatal care, if under 20 weeks. Others, including the AC...Show More
8) HPV? Check Your Pad.
There has been a shift in cervical cancer screening from primary cytology based to HPV based. Even HPV screening has had its evolution from physician collected samples to patient self-collection, eith...Show More
9) You Ask, We Answer!
Well podcast family, we are back with another installment of our “You ask, We answer” edition. We've got 2 fascinating and real-world clinical conundrums in this episode, both suggested by two separat...Show More
10) Understanding Fetal Microcephaly
Fetal Microcephaly has an incidence of 2 to 12 in10,000 births in the USA and can be diagnosed prenatally via ultrasound (in second or early third trimester) or postnatally via measurement of head cir...Show More