Vacuum aspiration at therapeutic abortion: blood loss at operation in multigravid women

Abstract

Therapeutic abortion by vacuum aspiration in the first trimester was carried out on 129 healthy multigravid women. The loss of haemoglobin at operation was estimated and the volume of blood calculated. The figures were compared to those in a group of primigravid women earlier reported. Blood loss increases with gestational length. Blood loss at first trimester abortion is smaller in multigravid than in primigravid women. In multigravid women blood loss is not significantly influenced by the woman's age and the number of pregnancies.

PIP: To test the hypothesis that previous pregnancies may influence blood loss at vacuum aspiration (VA), a standardized operative technique and determination of blood loss was used in a group of multigravid women. The blood loss at their operations was compared with that lost in a group of primigravid women studied earlier. Therapeutic abortion by VA was carried out in the first trimester of 129 healthy women requesting pregnancy termination. In terms of loss of hemoglobin and calculated blood volume, there was an increase in blood loss with the duration of pregnancy. The difference between early (8-10 weeks) and late (11-13 weeks) trimester was statistically significant. There were no significant differences between individual weekly periods. The mean blood loss for the whole first trimester (8-13 weeks) was 92 ml (range, 9-432 ml), corresponding to a mean hemoglobin loss of 11.9 g. In terms of age groups, blood loss seemed to decrease with increasing age and with increasing numbers of pregnancies, though not significantly. The total amount of hemoglobin was lower 2 weeks after the therapeutic abortion than before (407 vs. 428 g); however, there was no correlation between the volume of blood lost at operation and this decrease. When these figures were compared with those in a group of primigravid women, blood loss at first trimester abortion was less in multigravid than in primigravid women. In multigravid women, blood loss was not significantly influenced by the woman's age and number of previous pregnancies.