Abortion, threatened

Alternative names:

threatened miscarriage; threatened spontaneous abortion

Prevention:

Early and comprehensive prenatal care decreases risk. It is preferable to detect and treat known maternal disorders before conception occurs. Avoiding environmental hazards such as X-rays and infectious diseases also decreases the risk of miscarriage in early pregnancy.

Spontaneous abortion is not preventable if there is fetal death. In fact, it is important for the uterus to expel all products of conception in such cases. A missed abortion occurs when a dead fetus is not expelled from the uterus. When only part of the dead fetus is expelled, it is an incomplete abortion.