The most awaited moment for a woman who has just learned that she is pregnant is the first ultrasound in which it is confirmed that everything is going well. In the first weeks of pregnancy, genetic or implantation failures can occur that prevent pregnancy from thriving. It is known that approximately 15% of pregnancies are interrupted and end up in spontaneous abortion.
A team of experts formed by doctors specialized in Radiology, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Emergency, after conducting a systematic review of scientific literature, developed a new guide published in 'New England Journal of Medicine' in which propose to wait longer before deciding if a pregnancy is viable or not.
Actually, it is to bring to the theory what is usually done in day-to-day practice in consultations. If an embryo does not detect a heartbeat, a week or two is expected to recheck and determine if the pregnancy is viable or not.
The previous guidelines indicated that a five-millimeter embryo was unfeasible, while the new ones propose wait for it to measure seven millimeters and if it continues without a beat and the levels of pregnancy hormone in the blood have dropped, then it can be said that it is not evolutionary. For its part, according to the new recommendations, wait until the gestational sac measures 26 millimeters instead of 16.
In the first weeks, the gestational sac can be seen on ultrasound, inside the embryo. When the pregnancy is very early, the sac can be seen but the fetus may not yet be detected.
But beyond exact measures, the important thing is that it tends to common sense. To wait a few days to give a safety margin before determining anything.
On the one hand, because in the first weeks the ultrasound measurements are not accurate, and on the other, because the woman may believe that she is pregnant for more weeks than she really is and the embryo is therefore smaller.
It is not possible to determine in which week the heartbeat begins to feel, but it is estimated that around the week 6 pregnancy. Even so, if there is no heartbeat, it is not determined that the pregnancy is unfeasible, but that a few days are expected to corroborate it.
After those days, one or two weeks, it will be checked if the fetus has grown and if there are doubts, an analysis is performed to assess the levels of the pregnancy hormone, chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in blood.
In these cases, the new guide proposes to go further and repeat the analysis at 48 hours to control the evolution. If the hormone levels have increased, the pregnancy continues and if they go down they indicate that the pregnancy is not evolutionary.
When a woman goes through that trance the anguish that is lived is tremendous (I say it from my own experience). Therefore, everything that contributes to reassuring her and having a certainty, always accompanied by a kind and humane treatment, will be welcome.
