[Effectiveness and pregnancy outcomes of emergency cervical cerclage versus cerclage with cervical length <10 mm: a...

Objective: To explore the surgical efficacy of cervical cerclage with cervical length (CL) <10 mm and emergency cerclage. Methods: From January 2013 to June 2022, a total of 98 singleton pregnant women who underwent ultrasound-indicated cervical cerclage because of CL<10 mm in the second trimester and underwent emergency cervical cerclage because of cervical dilation found by physical examination in Peking University First Hospital were enrolled. The differences in clinical data between the <34 weeks delivery group (25 cases) and the ≥34 weeks delivery group (73 cases) were compared. Meanwhile, according to different cervical status, they were divided into CL<10 mm group (43 cases) and cervical dilatation group (55 cases), and the cervical dilatation group was further divided into cervical dilatation <4 cm group and cervical dilatation ≥4 cm group. The clinical data and pregnancy outcomes of pregnant women with different cervical status were compared. Results: (1) There were significant differences in the proportion of preoperative CL<10 mm and the degree of preoperative cervical dilation between the <34 weeks delivery group and the ≥34 weeks delivery group (all P<0.05). (2) After cervical cerclage, compared with women in the cervical dilatation group, the prolonged gestational age in the CL<10 mm group was longer [(10.5±4.6) vs (14.3±3.4) weeks], the gestational age at delivery was later (median: 35.7 vs 38.0 weeks), the preterm birth rates before 37 and 34 weeks were lower, the late abortion rate was lower [9% (5/55) vs 0 (0/43)], and the newborn birth weight was higher, the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). (3) Compared with the cervical dilation ≥4 cm group, the prolonged gestational age of the cervical dilatation <4 cm group was longer [(7.5±5.3) vs (11.1±4.2) weeks], the gestational age at delivery was later (median: 29.2 vs 36.0 weeks), and the birth weight of the newborn was higher (all P<0.05). The late abortion rate of cervical dilatation <4 cm group was lower than that of cervical dilatation ≥4 cm group [7% (3/45) vs 2/10; P=0.220]. Conclusions: Timely cervical cerclage in individuals with CL<10 mm could reduce preterm birth rate before 34 weeks gestation, and the pregnancy outcome is better than that of individuals with cervical dilation. Moreover, the pregnancy outcome of cervical cerclage in women with cervical dilation <4 cm is significantly better than that in women with cervical dilatation ≥4 cm.