Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 14, Issue 8 585-590, Copyright © 1995 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Early sonographically guided amniocenteses with filtration technique: follow-up on 249 procedures
K. Sundberg, J. Bang, V. Brocks, F. R. Jensen, S. Smidt-Jensen and J. Philip
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fetal and neonatal outcome is reported for 249 consecutive low-risk
pregnancies in which early amniocentesis was carried out with filter
technique, at a mean gestational age of 12.5 weeks, to improve the yield in
cell cultures. Three pregnancies (1.2%) were terminated because of abnormal
test results, four stillbirths (1.6%) occurred between weeks 33 and 38, and
five pregnancies were lost spontaneously after sampling, corresponding to
2% of unintended fetal losses before 28 weeks of gestation. Of the
live-born infants, 2.9% were delivered prematurely, all between weeks 32
and 37. Malformations and orthopedic postural deformities were not
associated with leakage after amniocentesis and were found at expected
rates. None of the cases was lost to follow-up. The increase in abortion
rate caused by early amniocentesis with filter technique is likely to be
within the same range as that seen after routine amniocentesis and
transabdominal chorionic villus sampling, although the sample is too small
for a proper risk evaluation.
