Fetal loss following invasive prenatal testing: a comparison of transabdominal chorionic villus sampling, transcervical chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to compare transabdominal chorionic villus sampling, transcervical chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis with respect to their total fetal loss rates.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated procedures of invasive prenatal testing performed during a 14-year period (2001-2014) including 936 amniocentesis procedures and 1051 chorionic villus samplings, of which 405 cases were executed transabdominally and 646 transcervically. Only singleton pregnancies before 24 weeks and 0 days of gestation where the pregnancy outcome was known were included. Fetal loss was defined as an abortion occurring either before 24 weeks and 0 days of gestation or <2 weeks after the procedure.

RESULTS

The total fetal loss rates were determined to be 1.73% for transabdominal chorionic villus sampling, 2.01% for transcervical chorionic villus sampling and 1.18% for amniocentesis. No statistically noticeable differences between the total fetal loss rates of all three procedures were found (P=0.399).

CONCLUSION

Our study has shown that chorionic villus sampling (either transabdominal or transcervical) and amniocentesis are equal methods for invasive prenatal testing with respect to their abortion risk.