[History and course of pregnancy in a group of cerclage patients. A comparative study (I) (author's transl)]

The previous history and course of pregnancy in 357 women with variable births, in whom cerclage had been performed during 1966-1976 at the Freiburg University Gynaecological Hospital, were compared with a group of 380 women without cerclage, the age, parity and period during which birth had occurred, being identical. The high average of the patients with cerclage (29.3 years), the low percentage of primigravidae (17.1%), the threefold increased rate of abortions and early births (28.4%) as well as the high perinatal mortality (21.5%) during the preceding pregnancies, confirmed these women as a "risk" group. After cerclage, births before the 38th week were reduced from 41.1% to 24.6% (p less than 0.001.) 52.3% of the premature births occurred between the 36th and completed 37th week. Perinatal mortality dropped to 5.6% (p less than 0.00l.). A clinically relevant gestosis was less frequent (0.8%;p less than 0.00l.). The fact that the rate of premature births in the cerclage group (p less than 0.001) continued to be elevated, is mainly attributed to the frequency of rupture of the amnion before the 38th week (21.0%).