Cervical occlusion due to adhesions following therapeutic abortion: an uncommon sequel to vacuum curettage.
Eleven women were referred with postabortal amenorrhoea and cyclical lower abdominal pain due to upper cervical occlusion by a thin band of fibrous adhesions. All had undergone first trimester termination of pregnancy by vacuum curettage. Associated intrauterine adhesions were found in 2 patients. Cervical adhesions were easily breached with a uterine sound and cervical dilators, and were then visualized with a hysteroscope. All women resumed normal menstrual cycles and suffered no sequelae. This unusual, but eminently treatable, complication of vacuum curettage should be more widely appreciated.
D000032:Abortion, Therapeutic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000568:Amenorrhea / Q000209:etiology; D004107:Dilatation and Curettage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011247:Pregnancy; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000209:etiology*; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D014619:Vacuum Curettage