Cervical cerclage for the treatment of patients with placenta previa.

Over a ten year period, placenta previa occurred in 103 instances among 12,965 deliveries. In six of these, cervical cerclage was undertaken to prevent severe bleeding while prolonging pregnancy between the 24th and the 30th weeks of gestation, according to the McDonald technique. We performed cesarean section delivery in all cases. The medium prolongation of the pregnancy was of 8.2 weeks and the foetus weighed from 1,820 to 3,360 g. No complications due to fetal respiratory distress were observed. No patients needed transfusions. Postpartum and the puerperium were regular. These results support the use of cervical cerclage for the treatment of patients with symptomatic placenta previa early in gestation.