Conservative management and pregnancy outcome in diethylstilbestrol-exposed women with and without gross genital tract abnormalities

Abstract

Our goal was to determine the effect of conservative management on pregnancy outcome in diethylstilbestrol-exposed women with and without gross structural lesions of the genital tract. The study included a case series of women prospectively enrolled over a 10-year period. Pregnancy outcome and both antepartum and intrapartum events occurring in a case series of 120 conservatively managed pregnancies in 50 diethylstilbestrol-exposed women were reviewed. Group A (n = 34, 89 pregnancies) consisted of women with gross upper or lower genital tract lesions associated with diethylstilbestrol exposure, whereas group B (n = 16, 31 pregnancies) consisted of women whose lesions were limited to colposcopic findings. Cerclage was limited to women with a history of cervical incompetence (n = 1, two pregnancies) or acute cervical change in the second trimester (one pregnancy). Women with cervical change occurring after 25 weeks' gestation were managed with bed rest. Group A experienced more spontaneous first-trimester losses than group B (25.8% vs 12.9%, p < 0.01), whereas group B had a greater gestational age at delivery (39.8 +/- 1.5 vs 37.3 +/- 3.8 weeks, p < 0.01) than group A. Overall, pregnancies surviving the first trimester (n = 94) resulted in delivery of a viable infant discharged home 92.2% of the time; 77.9% of pregnancies reached term. The perinatal loss rate was 1.3%. Preterm labor (6.5%) and preterm rupture of membranes (3.8%) resulted in an overall rate of preterm birth of 9.2%. There were no significant differences in length of any labor stage between groups, nor were there any differences in the use of oxytocin augmentation or cesarean section rates between groups. Postpartum hemorrhage and retained placenta were infrequent complications. The majority of pregnancy loss in diethylstilbestrol-exposed patients occurs in the first trimester. Cervical incompetence is an infrequent cause of pregnancy loss even in patients with gross structural abnormalities of the genital tract. Patients who had conservative management had good pregnancy outcomes. Prophylactic cerclage for all diethylstilbestrol-exposed patients should not be recommended.