Early office termination of pregnancy by soft cannula vacuum aspiration

This report documents the results of an ongoing study of the first 454 consecutive outpatient abortions by menstrual extraction technique performed by the author over a span of 8 years. All patients had positive preevacuation pregnancy tests and the procedure was employed up to 9+ weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. All procedures were carried out in an outpatient setting under local anesthesia. Pathologic evaluation revealed decidua and villi in all but 10 cases. Major complications were encountered in 2.6% of cases and in only two was laparotomy necessitated--one for a ruptured corpus luteum cyst and the other for an unruptured ectopic cornual pregnancy. The current application for the procedure is suggested by its technical simplicity and relative safety in population presenting for early termination of pregnancy.