First trimester live pregnancy and subsequent fetal loss. Impact of transcervical CVS and colonization of the cervix.

A consecutive series of 224 women undergoing transcervical chorionic villi sampling (CVS) were analyzed for the presence of cervical microbes. The outcome of pregnancy was related to age, number of aspirations and to the presence or not of microbes. The CVS group was compared to a group of 200 women with live fetuses at 8-11 weeks of gestation not undergoing CVS (ultrasound, US group). In the US group the miscarriage rate was 8.5% with 5.9% occurring after the 16th week of gestation. In the CVS group 20.3% ended as a miscarriage, 28.9% of these after the 16th week. There was no correlation between miscarriage rate and maternal age in the US group. In the CVS group younger women had a prominent rate of fetal loss. In the present study the risk of fetal loss after CVS was associated with a previous history of spontaneous abortions, with several aspirations performed, and with bacterial colonization of the cervix--candida and gardnerella excluded.