Alka Garg
Carewell Hospital, India
Title: Managing abortions in India-a threat to the pregnant woman
Biography
Biography: Alka Garg
Abstract
Incidence of Pregnancy Loss: Around 70% of conceptions are lost prior to live birth Once a woman has had a positive pregnancy test, there is around a 12% risk of having a miscarriage.
Classification of Miscarriage: Threatened miscarriage: vaginal bleeding, but no cervical dilation, before 20 weeks’ gestation. Recurrent miscarriage: 3 or more consecutive pregnancy losses. Inevitable miscarriage: dilated cervical os, but products of conception have not been expelled. Septic miscarriage: spontaneous miscarriage complicated by intrauterine infection. Missed miscarriage: foetus dies in utero but no uterine activity to expel the products of conception. Incomplete miscarriage: only part of the products of conception have been passed and the cervical os is closed; ultrasonography reveals remaining products of conception in the uterus. Complete miscarriage: all products of conception have been passed and the cervical os is closed
Etiology: Embryonic and/or Maternal, usually multifactorial. Embryonic: 50% of all cases due to fetal chromosomal abnormalities. Embryonic malformations especially of the CNS seen frequently. Maternal: Usually causes 2nd trimester
losses. Thrombophilias and APLA syndrome. Maternal genital tract infections (BV) and systemic infections. Maternal exposure to high doses of toxic agents, major endocrinopathies, immunologic disease. Large submucous fibroids
Symptomatology: Usually asymptomatic. Occasionally have mild vaginal bleeding and uterine cramping. Important to distinguish from other early pregnancy complications. Thorough medical history, physical examination, USG and serum ß hCG can be helpful in making a diagnosis.
Diagnosis: Ultrasonography (TVS) – preferred modality. Ultrasound criteria initially described in 1990s. Due to low specificity and high false positive rate, several studies done thereafter and criteria changed. Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound Multispecialty Panel on Early First Trimester Diagnosis of Miscarriage and Exclusion of a Viable Intrauterine Pregnancy created guidelines in 2013 that are considerably more conservative than past recommendations and also have stricter cutoffs than the studies on which they are based.
Management: Expectant, Medical, Surgical. All shown to be reasonably effective and acceptable. No evidence that any approach results in different long term outcomes.