Miscarriage and prevention

Miscarriage is the end of pregnancy before the 20th week of pregnancy. It is estimated that 1 in 5 pregnant women will be killed. Most cases of miscarriage occur within the first 12 weeks.

Uterine fibroids, a cause of miscarriage. (Photo: SK & ĐS) More than 60% of spontaneous abortions are the result of chromosomal malformations due to mother or father factors. About 15% are caused by trauma, infection, malnutrition, diabetes, thyroid defects or anatomical malformations in the mother (open cervix, uterine uterus, uterine fibroids are too big) . In ¼ of the cases, the cause of the miscarriage is unknown.

Symptoms of miscarriage include: abdominal cramps, with or without bleeding (bleeding) attached. If a vaginal vagina is accompanied by abdominal cramps, then the sign of pregnancy is about to fail.

Miscarriage is divided into the following categories:

Threatening miscarriage : Often with vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain, but the fetus is still alive and not pushed out of the uterus. The cervix is ​​still closed, or open, but the components of the fetus have not fallen out. If the patient continues to have bleeding and abdominal pain, the components of the fetus have passed through the cervical canal (the vaginal opening), which is considered an inevitable miscarriage.

Surely miscarriage : The fetus is dead and is being pushed out. A miscarriage can certainly be complete (all the fetus and the placenta are removed for a while, then the abdominal pain is gone, but the blood can continue to leak like menstruation) and not complete (one the part of the fetus and the placenta are still in the uterus, although the abdominal pain has lessened, but the vaginal blood still flows continuously, even with blood.

Miscarriage saved : A case of a fetus that has died but remains in the uterus has not been pushed out. The retention time can last for weeks, months but the symptoms of pregnancy disappear, there is black blood in the vagina, no abdominal pain. The cervical examination was slightly firm and slightly enlarged, the uterine body became smaller and gestationally soft and irregular. No fetal heart ultrasound.

How to handle?

If there are signs of threatened miscarriage, need to rest in bed, family members invite obstetrician to visit and use medication as directed (can use uterine contractions, if there are signs of infection, use resistance born). When there are signs of threatened scabbing, must abstain from labor, intercourse, eat soft food, easy to digest, avoid constipation.

If you have taken medication and rested but the blood still increased or abdominal pain increased, you must go to the hospital for an ultrasound examination to determine if the pregnancy is still alive or dead, from which the doctor decided to continue the treatment to keep the pregnancy or to terminate the pregnancy.

For stillbirths, it is not advisable to wait for spontaneous abortions but to seek medical care depending on the gestational age and the duration of treatment. If the fetus is less than 3 months old, the doctor will direct uterine curettage or use medical abortion method (vaginal medicine, combined with antibiotic-resistant antibiotics). If the pregnancy is larger, blood tests should be done to see if there is a coagulopathy, if it is, it must be treated before abortion.

How to prevent miscarriage?

The only way to prevent pregnancy is to have a routine check-up at a medical facility. If abnormal findings such as an enlargement of the uterus, the doctor will prescribe early cervical stitches to avoid abortion. This is a simple procedure, the patient is not hospitalized. In case of pregnancy, the pain in the stomach and stomach, having bleeding even though it is a little, will need to be examined even though it has not been scheduled.

When pregnant, need a balanced diet, take iron supplements to avoid anemia because this is the cause of malnutrition and causing damage. Avoid heavy labor or exposure to hazardous substances. Personal hygiene and intercourse hygiene because of vaginal infection, uterus is also the cause of miscarriage.

Doctor Tran Thi Hanh