I lost two babies because of cervical incompetence and was told I needed an abdominal cerclage. Is this correct?

Alexander Kofinas M.D.

No, this is not correct. At KOFINAS PERINATAL we have shown that abdominal cerclage belongs in the history books and not in the operating room. The only exception is when the cervix is not accessible for any reason through the vagina and the diagnosis of incompetent cervix is certain. We have treated a large number of patients who were referred to us originally for abdominal cerclage due to multiple prior losses despite the use of conventional cerclage in their previous pregnancies. These patients achieved the desired number of successive term pregnancies with proper management of cervical incompetence and preterm labor and without abdominal cerclage. At least three randomized clinical trials have shown that cerclage alone has always failed to improve pregnancy outcomes in patients with short cervix. It is the obstetrician/perinatologist who fails to realize that most patients with second trimester losses suffer from a mixture of cervical weakness and premature labor. Unless both problems are addressed, the pregnancy will fail again and again.