ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In the gynecology emergency departments, a pregnancy of uncertain viability is diagnosed in 29% of all first-trimester pregnancy medical consultations that require an ultrasound. The question of pregnancy viability is therefore common in our medical practice and comes along with human implications. In 2014, the French National College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (CNGOF) promulgated clear guidelines regarding missed early miscarriage diagnosis and treatment. We wanted to evaluate our level of compliance with the diagnosis dimension of those guidelines and assess their optimization level since they were published. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective and descriptive study is based on all missed early miscarriage that were taken care of within the gynecology emergency department at the CHU in Tours (France) over the course of three non-consecutive years. The year 2013 has been considered - before the guidelines were promulgated, 2015 - just after the guidelines were promulgated and lastly, 2018 in order to have the necessary distance for the interpretation. The following criteria was assessed for each year: the diagnostic ultrasound criteria; when relevant, the monitoring ultrasound deadlines; and the details regarding any patient management errors if errors were made. Secondarily, the uterine evacuation treatment procedures were examined. RESULTS: The study population includes 297 women. The non-compliance with the guidelines affected 20% of the women in 2013, 12% in 2015 and 15% in 2018 (p = 0.25 when comparing the pre-guideline and post-guideline periods). An ultrasound performed too early is the most common error made each year even though its frequency has decreased (p = 0.03). The least experienced sonographers tend to be rather cautious, performing additional unnecessary examinations and scheduling excessive additional monitoring ultrasound deadlines. Only 13% of the medication-based therapies made uterine evacuation successful. If the initial use of prostaglandin substances was not successful, no additional dose of medication enabled any women patient to avoid surgery. CONCLUSION: The compliance with the guidelines regarding pregnancies of uncertain viability is not optimal. Partial improvements in our own patient care management have been made since the publication of the guidelines; however, the main risk at stake is to terminate the evolution of a normal pregnancy due to some remaining medical misjudgments. The introduction of quality scores for clinical ultrasound images would be an interesting topic to discuss.
