Frequency of Short Term Complications of Second Trimester Amniocentesis in Pregnant Women referred to Perinatology Clinic of Azzahra Hospital, Rasht, 2012-2014

Objective: To investigate the frequency of short term complications of second trimester amniocentesis Design: An analytical cross-sectional study Setting: Perinatology clinic of Azzahra Hospital, Rasht, Iran Subjects: Eight hundred and thirty-four pregnant women referred to perinatology clinic Intervention(s): Amniocentesis at 15 -22 weeks of gestation by convenient sampling Main outcome measure(s): Patients were followed up for 4 weeks until receipt of amniocentesis results. Abortion rate, intrauterine fetal death, chorioamnionitis, vaginal bleeding and premature rupture of membranes were registered during this period. Results: Eleven cases (1.3%) showed short-term complications, including 4 with abdominal pain (0.5%), 4 with vaginal bleeding (0.5%), 2 had abortions (0.2%) and 1 with amniotic fluid leakage (0.1%). The outcome of pregnancy showed 22 fetal losses, of which 20 had legal abortion due to abnormal karyotype and 2 (0.2%) had spontaneous abortion. The most prevalent karyotype was trisomy 21. The history of abnormal child and first trimester vaginal bleeding were significantly associated with fetal loss (p = 0.014 and p = 0.0001, respectively). According to the regression analysis, the history of having an abnormal child and first trimester vaginal bleeding increased the chance of fetal loss which were 4.7 and 12.6 times, respectively. Furthermore, sonography as a screening test for diagnosing abnormalities had 21.2% sensitivity and 96.4% specificity. Conclusion: Our study showed that the frequency of short-term complications from amniocentesis was low and sonography did not have enough sensitivity to diagnose fetal abnormalities; therefore, although amniocentesis may be a safe procedure in the second trimester, in high risk women, physicians should inform them regarding probable complications.