5. Outline
Overview of maternal mortality
Define abortion
Discuss different classification of abortion
Discuss etiologies of abortion
Discuss clinical types of spontaneous abortion
Outline the management of abortion
5
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8. Maternal mortality: definition
The death of a woman while pregnant or
within 42 days of termination of
pregnancy, irrespective of duration and site
of pregnancy, from any cause related to or
aggravated by pregnancy or its
management but not from accidental or
incidental causes.
(ICD-10, Tenth Revision,1992, WHO. ICD-MM, 2012)
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9. Causes of Maternal Death
1. Direct obstetric deaths:
Hemorrhage
Sepsis
Eclampsia/HPN
Unsafe abortion
Obstructed Labor
2. Indirect obstetric deaths:
Cardiac/renal diseases (existing)
Adolescent pregnancy
HIV among pregnant women
Malaria
Malnutrition
Harmful traditional practices
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10. Causes of Maternal Death in 2013: Global
Abortion,
15%
Haemorrhage,
15%
Gestational
HPN, 10%
Obstructed
Labor, 6%
Sepsis,
8%
Late, 15%
Other Direct,
19%
Indirect,
11%
HIV, 0.7%
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12. Unwanted Pregnancy
Unwanted pregnancy is a pregnancy that a woman is not
actively trying to have (@ the time of conception).
It could be:-
Unintended
Unplanned
A mistake or
Not at the right time
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13. Why unwanted pregnancy happened?
Main reasons include
o Failure of family planning (contraceptive) delivery systems:
Lack of information
Lack of access
o Social/cultural/religious barriers
o Sexual violence: rape/incest
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14. Why unwanted pregnancy happened…
Main reasons include
o The method they were using failed
o Stigmatization/discrimination of unmarried women using
contraceptives
o Lack of knowledge on sexuality and reproduction
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15. Who is at Risk of Unwanted
Pregnancy?
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16. Who is at risk of Unwanted pregnancy?
Married women
Single women
Adolescents and school girls
Rich and poor
From Urban/Rural
All women are at risk!!!
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17. Fate of women with unwanted
pregnancies
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19. Why women resort to unsafe abortion?
o Restrictive laws
o Unavailability of the service (despite liberal law)
o Lack of awareness
o Privacy (lack of facility)
o Providers attitude towards safe abortion
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20. What are the factors contributing
for maternal death?
The three delays
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21. Lack of information and inadequate
knowledge about danger signals
during pregnancy and labor,
Cultural/ traditional practices that
restrict women from seeking health
care, and
Lack of money
The 1st delay: Delay in deciding to seek care at
household
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22. Out of reach of health facilities,
Poor roads and communication
network, and
Poor community support
mechanisms.
Most important barrier to seek
service (DHS 2011)
The 2nd delay: inability to access health facilities
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23. Inadequate skilled attendants,
Poorly motivated staff,
Inadequate equipment and
supplies, and
Weak referral system.
The 3rd delay: Delay between arriving and receiving
care at the health facility
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24. • Access to Comprehensive FP
• Access to legal Safe Abortion/CAC
• Skilled birth attendance
• Improvement in access & quality of Emergency
Obstetric Care (EmOc)
• Gender equality, Women’s empowerment
• Improvement in legal & policy framework.
What is the Magic/Secret?
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27. DEFINITION OF ABORTION
• Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before fetal viability,
Conventionally -less than 28 weeks from LNMP
If LNMP is not known, a birth weight of less than 1000gm
• WHO: define abortion as pregnancy termination or loss before 20 weeks’
gestation or with a fetus delivered weighing <500 g.
• It may occur either spontaneously or induced.
• Induced abortion can be safe or unsafe.
27
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28. Magnitude Abortion
It is the most common complication of pregnancy
About 15% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in abortion.
More than 80% of spontaneous abortions occur within the first 12 weeks
of gestation.
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29. Magnitude of abortion in Ethiopian
In 2014, an estimated 620,300 abortions were performed
every year in Ethiopia.
Prevalence of induced abortion in
Wachamo University was 5.9% (Shimelis M, et al, 2015)
Hawassa University was 68.7% (አስደንጋጭ)
(Addisu Tadesse, et al, 2019)፣
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/2856502.
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30. Classification of abortion
Classification of abortion based on:-
A. Method or onset:
Spontaneous and Induced
B. Clinical staging of Abortion
1. Threatened
2. Inevitable
3. Incomplete
4. Complete
5. Missed
6. Septic
7. Recurrent
C. Legality:
Legal and Illegal
D. Trimester:
1st and 2nd
E. Service type
Safe Abortion & Post abortion care
F. Safety
Safe and unsafe
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31. Types of abortion
Based on onset:-
1. Spontaneous– happen on its own or without any deliberate
intervention.
2. Induced – caused by deliberate intervention
Safe or unsafe
Induced abortion is one of the mechanisms to deal with
unwanted pregnancy.
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33. Legality of abortion in Ethiopia
Rape, (የተደፈረች)
Incest or fetal impairment (እርግዝናዉ ከዜመድ ከሆነ)
A woman can legally terminate a pregnancy if her life or her
child's life is in danger, or if continuing the pregnancy or giving
birth endangers her life.
A woman may also terminate a pregnancy if she is unable to bring
up the child, owing to her status as a minor (aged under 18 years)
or to a physical or mental infirmity or illness.
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34. Based on service type: -
Safe Abortion care: is a comprehensive termination of pregnancy that
is offered to clients as permitted by the law
Post abortion care: is a comprehensive service to treat women that
present to a health care facility after abortion has occurred
spontaneously or after attempted termination.
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35. Etiology
A. First trimester abortion :(the first 12 wk) #1
1. Fetal chromosomal abnormalities –
is commonest cause
particularly Trisomy, Polyploidy.
50– 70 % of the first trimester abortions
the incidence increased with the increase in the maternal age.
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39. Threatened abortion
Painless vaginal bleeding
Minimal/mild suprapubic discomfort, mild cramps, pelvic pressure, or
persistent low backache
On examination:
Uterine size is appropriate for gestational age and
Cervix is long and closed.
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40. Threatened abortion..
Fetal cardiac activity is detectable by ultrasound or Doppler.
Even if miscarriage does not follow threatened abortion, rates of later
adverse pregnancy outcomes are increased.
Of these, highest risks are for preterm delivery.
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41. Threatened abortion (Management)
1. Reassurance: If fetal heart activity is present
2. Advice the woman to avoid strenuous activity and sexual intercourse.
3. ANC as high risk patients
Because those patients are liable to late pregnancy complications such
as APH and preterm labour .
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42. Inevitable abortion
Bleeding increases,
Painful uterine cramps/contractions reach peak intensity,
Membrane is ruptured
The cervix is dilated to variable extent
The gestational tissue can often be felt or visualized through the internal
cervical os.
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43. Incomplete abortion
The membrane ruptured & often the fetus passed
Part of the placenta may be retained
On physical exam: cervix usually open, conceptus tissue in the
vagina/cervix
Small for date uterus
Amount of bleeding varies
Often they have painful cramp
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44. Complete abortion
• Is complete expulsion of the entire pregnancy.
• A history of heavy bleeding, cramping, and passage of tissue is typical.
• The uterus is small for GA and well contracted
• Closed cervix,
• Scant vaginal bleeding
• US may indicate a minimally thickened endometrium without a gestational
sac.
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46. Missed abortion
Is in-utero death of the embryo or fetus prior to the 28th week of
gestation with retention of the pregnancy for 1 wk and above.
Regression of symptoms associated with early pregnancy and they don't
"feel pregnant" any more;
Vaginal bleeding may occur.
The cervix is usually closed
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50. Septic Abortion…
The infection may spread, leading to salpingitis, generalized
peritonitis, and septicemia.
Most spontaneous abortions are not septic.
Is, however, a common complication of illegally performed induced
abortion.
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51. Treatment of Septic Abortion
Antibiotics :
Ampicillin 2gm IV QID,
gentamicin 3-5mg/kg IV TID
Metronidazole 500mg IV TID
Removal of infected tissue within an hour of antibiotics.
Administered until the patient has improved and been afebrile for 48
hours.
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54. Management of Abortion
The choice of management approach depends on
Gestational age
Clinical diagnosis
Availability of methods of uterine evacuation
The skill of the providers
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55. Methods for evacuation of uterine content
Medical
methods:
• Mifepristone + misoprostol
• Misoprostol
• High dose oxytocin
Surgical
methods
• MVA- preferred method
• Suction dilation and curettage or suction curettage
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Expect
ant
Reassurance, Advice, Rest, ANC follow-up, counseling
56. 1. EXPECTANT MANAGEMENT
• In cases of threatened abortion, pregnancy can continue till
term and clients can be managed expectantly.
• Medical treatment is not usually required.
• Avoid strenuous activity and sexual intercourse.
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58. Definition and the drugs
• Medication abortion (MA) is termination of pregnancy using drugs
• There are different types of drugs used for abortion
• Currently, the commonly used MA agents are mifepristone and
misoprostole.
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62. Mifepristone
Is a synthetic anti-progesterone
Is developed as RU-486- Roussel-Uclaf plus a serial number.
Leads to
detachment of the pregnancy from the uterine wall;
it also dilates the cervix
It is teratogenic if pregnancy continues after use
It is given orally!
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63. Misoprostole
• Is a prostaglandin E analogue
• Originally manufactured for treatment of PUD
• Works by causing uterine contraction and cervical
dilatation
• Can be used for prevention and/or treatment of PPH
• Is given in different roots (oral, vaginal, buccal, sublingual).
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65. Effectiveness of MA
Combination of two drugs more effective than either used
alone.
Combined regimen is 92-98% effective in pregnancies ≤ 9
weeks since LMP (Von Hertzen et al., 2003).
Misoprostol alone = 85-90% effective
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68. Regimens
1. Mifepristone
200mg (1 tab) orally on day 1.
Most women will feel no change after taking mifepristone:
Some women will begin bleeding before taking the next pill
(misoprostol).
A few women will abort after the mifepristone alone.
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69. Regimens
2. Misoprostole
800 (4 tabs) microgram vaginal suppository after 36-48
hours.
There is a range of options in route, dosage and timing
After seven weeks LMP, vaginal doses are more
effective
Up to 90% of women will expel within six hours of
vaginal dose (WHO, 2003).
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72. Side effects vs. Complications
Side effects:
• Effects of the treatment, other than the intended outcome,
that might include physiological or psychological
consequences.
Most are minor, and require little or no intervention
Complications:
• Effects of treatment with potentially serious clinical
consequences
Require medical intervention
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73. Expected side effects following MA
Pain
Bleeding
Fever, chills, sweating
Nausea, vomiting
Dizziness
Diarrhea
Skin rashes
Headache
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75. Heavy bleeding Management
Aspiration (MVA) to stop bleeding (0.4 - 2%)
Transfusion required in approximately 0.2% cases
For early surgical abortion ~ 0.1%
No reports of hysterectomy for hemostasis after MA reported
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76. Steps taken before administering MA
• Clinical assessment
History and physical examination
+ Investigations
• Counselling and informed consent
• Discussion of contraceptive needs
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77. Medical abortion for first trimester post abortion care
(Missed and incomplete abortion)
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78. MA for Post-abortion Care
• Evidences show that misoprostole is equally effective to treat incomplete
abortion in the first trimester as MVA.
• MA for PAC is included in the Ethiopian procedural guideline
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80. Misoprostol for Missed Abortion
800 µgm vaginally
Administered at home or in clinic
Success rates: 80-90%
But diagnosis of “missed” abortion depends on access to
ultrasound
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81. MA for second trimester abortion
• MA can also be used for treatment of second trimester safe abortion
• The Ethiopian procedural guideline states
• Additionally trained personnel
• Should be done in hospital set-up having emergency back-up
• The risk of complication is higher than first trimester abortion
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83. Manual Vacuum Aspiration [MVA]
The following equipment for MVA procedure:
Pelvic model
High-level disinfected or sterile surgical gloves
Personal protective barriers
MVA syringes and cannula
Vaginal speculum
Single-toothed tenaculum or vulsellum forceps
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85. Steps of the MVA Procedure
1. Prepare instruments.
2. Prepare the woman.
3. Perform cervical antiseptic prep.
4. Dilate cervix.
5. Insert cannula.
6. Suction uterine contents.
7. Inspect tissue.
8. Perform any concurrent procedures.
9. Process instruments.
86. Step 1: Prepare Instruments
Prepare all necessary equipments and instruments for
doing UE using MVA
Check that the aspirator retains a vacuum.
Have more than one aspirator available.
88. Step 2: Prepare the Woman
Ask for consent (when appropriate)
Ensure pain medication is given at the appropriate time.
Ask the woman to empty her bladder.
Help her onto the table.
Wash hands and put on barriers.
Perform a bimanual exam.
89. Signs of complete evacuation
• Red or pink foam without tissue passing through cannula
• Gritty sensation over surface of uterus
• Uterus contracting around cannula
• Increased uterine cramping
• Cervix tightly gripping the cannula
90. Post Abortion Family Planning Counseling &
Services (PAFP)
• PAFP is one of the key quality indicators for CAC
• Ovulation can occur within 10 days following abortion and
the woman may risk subsequent unintended pregnancy
• PAFP thus prevent further unintended pregnancy and
abortion
• Remember that some women may desire another
pregnancy.
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91. Post Abortion care (PAC)
PAC- is a global initiative in response to the problem of maternal
mortality and morbidity resulting from unsafe abortion.
Essential elements of PAC services
1. Treatment of incomplete and unsafe abortion
2. Counseling to respond to women's needs
3. Contraceptive services
4. Link to other Reproductive services
5. Community and provider partnerships
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