ON THE COMPLICATION RISK OF EARLY AMNIOCENTESIS VERSUS STANDARD AMNIOCENTESIS

In the last 6 years early amniocentesis for the prenatal diagnosis of chromosome abet-rations has been established in many centers worldwide , but knowledge about the gynecological safety of the procedure is spa rse, From 1990 to 1995 al the Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oberhausen (Ge rmany) 3,277 early amniocenteses (between weeks 11 and 14) and 1,808 s tandard amniocenteses were performed in low-risk indication groups (ad vanced maternal age and anxiety), A complete follow-up including repor ts of fetal outcome was obtained in 4,444 cases (87.5%), A pregnancy a ge-related abortion rate was determined with a slightly higher rate of abortions up to week 28 of gestation in early amniocentesis, The tota l abortion rate up to week 28 after the procedure for cases with compl ete follow-up was 2% in early amniocentesis, Compared to standard amni ocentesis performed under the same clinical conditions with an abortio n rate of 1.3%, there is no statistical difference between early and s tandard amniocentesis (p = 0.0971), Hip and foot dislocations (22 case s) and pulmonary distress syndromes (8 newborns) showed no significant correlation with the gestational week, Given the high normal backgrou nd rate of spontaneous abortions in the early period of pregnancy with out an invasive procedure, early amniocentesis can be considered as a safe alternative to chorionic villus sampling and standard amniocentes is.