Emergency cervical cerclage: A review of 15 cases.
BACKGROUND
This report describes our experience with 15 consecutive emergency cervical cerclages performed at Al Yamamah Hospital.


METHODS
Between February 1994 and February 1997, 15 women with singleton pregnancies between 18 and 26 weeksâ gestation, with a cervical dilatation between 3 and 10 cm and with membrane prolapse, underwent emergency cerclage after excluding labor, placental abruption and intrauterine infection. The membranes were replaced using the technique of overfilling the urinary bladder and then performing McDonaldâs cerclage. All the patients received prophylactic antibiotics and tocolytics.


RESULTS
Of the 15 pregnancies, two aborted and 13 ended in live births. Nine of the live births survived, giving a survival rate of 60%. The mean extension of pregnancy in the survivors was 11.5 weeks (range 7.6-15.2 weeks), and the gestational age at delivery ranged from 30-38+ weeks. In six of the patients, suture failed to prolong the pregnancy long enough to produce a âtake-home baby.â All the failures were due to subclinical intrauterine infection. There was no maternal morbidity.


CONCLUSIONS
Emergency cerclage should be considered as a management option in women with painless cervical dilatation and membrane prolapse in the midtrimester.
Al-Takroni
A M
AM
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Al Yamamah Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Aslam
A
A
Parvathi
C K
CK
Shamdeen
M
M
Hanbali
M
M
Ahmed
M S
MS
Khatun
A
A
Ali
A M
AM
Mendis
K B
KB