# Missed ab or spontaneous ab



## BlakeCarswell82 (Mar 12, 2014)

What is the difference between spontaneous and missed abortion?  How will I know in the lab report?  What does "IMMATURE AND EDEMATOUS CHORIONIC VILLI" mean?


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## bbooks (Mar 13, 2014)

From this web site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001488.htm

A miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy. (Pregnancy losses after the 20th week are called preterm deliveries.)

A miscarriage may also be called a "spontaneous abortion." This refers to naturally occurring events, not to medical abortions or surgical abortions.

Other terms for the early loss of pregnancy include:

Complete abortion: All of the products (tissue) of conception leave the body
Incomplete abortion: Only some of the products of conception leave the body
Inevitable abortion: Symptoms cannot be stopped and a miscarriage will happen
Infected (septic) abortion: The lining of the womb (uterus) and any remaining products of conception become infected
Missed abortion: The pregnancy is lost and the products of conception do not leave the body
The doctor may also use the term threatened miscarriage. The symptoms of this condition, abdominal cramps with or without vaginal bleeding, are a sign that a miscarriage may occur.​
The chorionic villi are the fetal part of the placenta.

We aren't able to distinguish between a missed AB and a spontaneous AB from the pathology alone. We need to know the clinical information. A patient with a missed AB may choose to undergo a D&C or wait for her own body to miscarry on its own (spontanteous AB). A missed AB is typically one that presents with no bleeding but an early ultrasound shows no embryo (blighted ovum) or no heartbeat. Sometimes it's diagnosed with falling blood HCG levels.

I used to work in OB/Gyn.


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