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Friday, June 04, 2004Stitches don't stop preterm birth A common surgical procedure used to try to stop women giving birth prematurely has little effect, research suggests. But that isn't really what the study found. It found that the procedure is only marginally beneficial if used for women whose cervixes appear short on ultrasound examination: The Kings team, led by Professor Kypros Nicolaides, used ultrasound screening to identify 250 women with a short cervix. Some underwent cervical cerclage, while others had no surgery. Among those who underwent surgery, 22% went on to have a premature birth, compared to 26% among those who had no surgery. Premature birth was defined as delivery at or before 33 weeks. In both cases, the level of premature birth was far higher than the UK average of 1.5%. The researchers say their work shows that women with short cervixes are at increased risk of premature birth - and that for them cervical cerclage seems to have only a limited effect. Here in the States, cervical cerclage is not routinely recommended for asymptomatic women with ultrasound evidence of a shortened cervix. It's recommended in women who meet other criteria. This study says nothing about its usefulness in the situations when it's usually used. posted by Sydney on 6/04/2004 08:07:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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