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StatPearls
Threatened Abortion [Internet]

MIchelle Mouri 1 , Heather Hall 2 , Timothy J. Rupp

In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan.
2022 Sep 5.
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PMID: 28613498 Bookshelf ID: NBK430747 Collections
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Excerpt
Abortion is the medical term for a pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestational age. The types of
spontaneous abortion include threatened, inevitable, incomplete, complete, septic, and missed
abortion.

A threatened abortion is defined as vaginal bleeding before 20 weeks gestational age in the setting of
a positive urine and/or blood pregnancy test with a closed cervical os, without passage of products of
Title & authors
conception and without evidence of a fetal or embryonic demise. The definition of a threatened
abortion by the World Health Organization (WHO) is pregnancy-related bloody vaginal discharge or
Excerpt
frank bleeding during the first half of pregnancy without cervical dilatation.

Other types of abortion should be considered if the cervical os is open, if there is determined to be an Conflict of interest
extrauterine pregnancy, if there is determined to be an intrauterine pregnancy without a fetal statement
heartbeat, or if there is evidence of the passage of products of conception.
Sections
Nearly 25% of pregnant women have some degree of vaginal bleeding during the first two trimesters
and about 50% of these progress to loss of the pregnancy. The bleeding during a threatened abortion
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is typically mild to moderate. The abdominal pain may present as intermittent cramps, suprapubic
pain, pelvic pressure, or lower back pain.
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Copyright © 2023, StatPearls Publishing LLC.
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Conflict of interest statement

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Disclosure: MIchelle Mouri declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
Disclosure: Heather Hall declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies. Related information
Disclosure: Timothy Rupp declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
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Sections
Continuing Education Activity
Introduction
Etiology
Epidemiology
Pathophysiology
Histopathology
History and Physical
Evaluation
Treatment / Management
Differential Diagnosis
Prognosis
Complications
Consultations
Deterrence and Patient Education
Pearls and Other Issues
Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes
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Management of first-trimester complications in the emergency department.

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References
1. Alves C, Rapp A. StatPearls [Internet] StatPearls Publishing; Treasure Island (FL): 2022. Jul 18,
Spontaneous Abortion. - PubMed
2. Redinger A, Nguyen H. StatPearls [Internet] StatPearls Publishing; Treasure Island (FL): 2022. Jun
27, Incomplete Abortions. - PubMed
3. de Codt M, Balza C, Jadoul P, Forget P, Squifflet JL, Bernard P, Luyckx M. Hysteroscopic
Resection for Missed Abortion: Feasibility, Operative Technique and Potential Benefit Compared
to Curettage. Front Surg. 2020;7:64. - PMC - PubMed
4. Karataşlı V, Kanmaz AG, İnan AH, Budak A, Beyan E. Maternal and neonatal outcomes of
adolescent pregnancy. J Gynecol Obstet Hum Reprod. 2019 May;48(5):347-350. - PubMed
5. Hendriks E, MacNaughton H, MacKenzie MC. First Trimester Bleeding: Evaluation and
Management. Am Fam Physician. 2019 Feb 01;99(3):166-174. - PubMed

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