Spontaneous Abortions, Diagnosis & Complications

The main basis for the management of abortion is diagnosis.Technology has been used for 20 years to facilitates early diagnosis of pregnancy, which has allowed advancement in the management of abortion and prenatal care. The ultrasonographic-phy and evidence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) facilitate the diagnosis and management of patients with an abnormal pregnancy.

Patients with early spontaneous abortion may or may not have vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain. During the physical examination revealed a uterus smaller than a period of amenorrhea (no menstrual cycle) and in the case of active bleeding, the products of conception may be evident in the cervical canal or vagina. Patients with more pregnancies have the same symptoms, but with greater intensity, and cervical changes are usually more evident. In patients with few or no symptoms, and those with young pregnancies, is essential to the assessment by ultrasound.

When the cell embryos were implanted in the womb, begins production of chorionic gonadotropin. The concentrations of this hormone rise 100% during the first six weeks of pregnancy, approximately every 1.3 to two days, reaching the peak around nine or ten weeks of gestation. After ten weeks and during the second and third trimesters, concentrations begin to decline gradually. HCG in urine is an excellent marker for the detection and evolution of early pregnancy normal or abnormal.


ComplicationsBleeding is the most common complication  accompanies with the threat of abortion, and is characterized by small, red or dark brown and often accompanied with pain. When the bleeding becomes heavy, with or without clots of different sizes, it is considered the stage of abortion started and often frightened the women.
The pain can also be considered a complication of abortion, but its intensity depends on many factors, including fear and anxiety. However, there has been found that the intensity of pain is associated with the length of gestation.

Infection is another complication that can occur after an abortion, although it occurs in one in 200 cases and is usually mild. Usually does not require hospitalization and was treated with antibiotics. Symptoms are poor: low-grade fever and pain or fever discreet when palpitating the abdomen.

The most serious infections are due to the retention of post-abortion remains a frequency of about 2%, which corresponds to one in every 50. The diagnosis is suspected when persistent bleeding occurs, some degree of abdominal pain and, sometimes, the expulsion of small remnants of gestation. In these cases an ultrasound is performed .

Another complication that doctors often forget are the psychological, as the loss of pregnancy and abortion can be a traumatic experience for both partners and potential causes of depression and anxiety.

Posted in: Pregnancy