Comparison of elective and empiric cerclage and the role of emergency cerclage

Abstract

We describe the maternal, obstetric, and neonatal outcomes of patients undergoing elective, empiric, and emergency cervical cerclage at our institution in an attempt to determine predictive factors for adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes. A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients who underwent cervical cerclage placement over a 7-year time span. Of 55 charts, 40 contained complete peripartum data satisfactory for review; 7 elective, 15 empiric, and 18 emergency cerclages were analyzed. There was no perinatal mortality in the elective group, and 5/ 7 patients delivered at term. The empiric population experienced a 20% neonatal mortality; 6/ 15 gestations progressed to term. The perinatal mortality was 44% in the emergency group and 2/ 18 patients delivered at term. Relative to neonatal outcome, elective cerclage was statistically significantly better than emergent cerclage; there was no statistically significant difference between the elective and empiric groups nor between the empiric and emergent groups. This relatively small series with a large number of variables appeared to favor an elective procedure rather than an empiric one. Although emergent cerclage was associated with only a 56% neonatal survival, it did have value in some patients. J. Matern.–Fetal Med. 7:230–234, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.