Does prior ultrasonography affect the safety of induced abortion at or after 13 weeks' gestation? A retrospective study

Introduction: We aimed to assess whether ultrasonography prior to dilation and evacuation or medical abortion ≥13 weeks was correlated with safety.

Material and methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients undergoing abortion ≥13 weeks at eight sites in Nepal from 2015 to 2019.

Results: We included 2294 women undergoing abortion ≥13 weeks (no upper gestational age limit); 593 underwent dilation and evacuation and 1701 had a medical abortion. Demographics differed by procedure for parity (19% vs 33% nulliparous, dilation and evacuation, and medical abortion) and gestational age (90% vs 52% were 13-15 weeks, dilation and evacuation, and medical abortion). Ultrasonography was performed in 81% of cases overall. Complications were rare (<1% of dilations and evacuations, 1.4% of medical abortions). The most common adverse events with dilation and evacuation were hemorrhage and cervical laceration; three women required re-aspiration. Following medical abortion, 13.5% had retained products, 12.9% with prior ultrasound and 16.3% who had not had an ultrasound. Hemorrhage and severe side-effects occurred at similarly low rates regardless of whether ultrasonography was performed. In a logistic regression model where patient characteristics and case clustering within facilities were controlled for, we found a correlation between ultrasonography and complications when retained placenta was included in the model, but there was no correlation between ultrasonography and complications when retained placenta was excluded.

Conclusions: This study confirms low complication rates among women having an abortion ≥13 weeks' gestation in healthcare facilities. Settings without universal availability of ultrasound may still maintain low, comparable complication rates.