We make too many unnecessary abortions?

MILAN - The medical care is never too much, especially when it comes to diagnosing spontaneous interruption of pregnancy. It is the argument of four studies published recently in the journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology , according to which one must not give up too soon, coming to conclusions, before the appearance of a miscarriage in the first weeks of gestation.

THE STUDY - Researchers from Imperial College and Queen's University of London, in collaboration with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, have analyzed the criteria currently recommended by U.S. guidelines, Canadian and Anglo-Saxons on the diagnosis of early abortion: This is basically using ultrasound to assess the good performance of the pregnancy based on the detection and measurement of the heartbeat of the embryo and the structure that contains it, the room ovulate. The conclusions to which researchers have come not so reassuring, however: according to them, the standards set by international guidelines to recognize a pregnancy, "stopped" would have been derived from studies of poor quality, done on a small sample of women. Moreover, despite the modern ultrasound techniques now available to specialists, the measurements on which the diagnosis of miscarriage would be subject to a certain degree of inaccuracy. The trump card for obstetricians and sonographers to avert the danger of error, however, would be to go beyond a single test, but to repeat the ultrasound at a distance of at least seven days, to be sure to distinguish an early abortion by a pregnant that instead of still likely to continue.

NO ALARMS - And in our country, the fear of misdiagnosis is legitimate? To reassure the Italian expectant mothers is Dario Paladini, President of the Italian Society of Ultrasound Obstetrics and Gynecology (SIEOG), which states: "The guidelines of our scientific societies have always recommended a second ultrasound a week apart," says the ' expert. "The SIEOG has always been very interested in defining the diagnostic criteria for saying that pregnancy is spontaneously broken: Repeat the inspection after seven days from the examination leading to suspicion that the miscarriage ensures that attitude of care and prudence that we believe necessary and removes any possibility of mistake. "