Abortion - threatened

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Miscarriage

Abortion - threatened

Alternative Names:

Threatened miscarriage; Threatened spontaneous abortion
Symptoms:

Vaginal bleeding during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy (last menstrual period was less than 20 weeks ago)
Abdominal cramps may or may not accompany vaginal bleeding

Note: With true miscarriage, low back pain or abdominal pain (dull to sharp, constant to intermittent) typically occurs and tissue or clot-like material may pass from the vagina.

Signs and tests:

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Pelvic examination reveals a cervix that is neither thinned (effaced) nor open (dilated). Either of these could suggest impending miscarriage.

A serum HCG may be performed to confirm that a pregnancy exists.
Beta HCG (quantitative) test may be repeated over a period of days or weeks to confirm either continued pregnancy or fetal death.
A CBC may be obtained to determine the degree of blood loss.
A WBC with differential may be obtained to rule out infection.
A pregnancy ultrasound is used to detect fetal heartbeat.

This disease may also alter the results of the following tests: