Publication:

Emergency cervical cerclage and pregnancy outcomes

Background To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of emergency cervical cerclage in women who presented with advanced cervical changes such as cervical dilatation and bulging foetal membranes.

Methods This is a retrospective study on all women treated with cervical cerclage presented in the late second trimester with advanced cervical dilatation (2 to 4cms) for whom emergency cervical cerclage by McDonald technique.

Results Out of the 24 patients for whom emergency cervical cerclage was performed, three patients had spontaneous abortion after cervical cerclage, two had PROM and eight of these patients had term delivery. Twenty-one fetus were live born after the period of viability. Nine of these babies were admitted to NICU and 50 percent of the neonates required only regular perinatal care.

Conclusions Post emergency cervical cerclage, the outcome in terms of prolongation of pregnancy, live births and neonatal survival is better.