[Severe anomaly of fetal limbs after early and failed voluntary interruption of pregnancy]

The authors report the case of a patient who underwent a failed legal abortion at the 7th week of pregnancy via vacuum aspiration. A follow-up ultrasound survey done at the 14th week demonstrated the continuance of pregnancy and the presence of a serious fetal deformity consisting of the amelia of the two upper limbs, complete phocomelia of the right lower limb and distal phocomelia of the left lower limb. In the light of recent findings of a high incidence of fetal limb abnormalities in women subjected to chorionic villus sampling, before the 9th week of gestation, the Authors hypothesize that chorionic villus sampling, occurring during the abortion attempt, could probably be the cause of the fetal limb abnormalities in the present case study.