At 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant, my obgyn gave me the devastating diagnosis "missed abortion". I was shattered. This is my first pregnancy.
Only the gestational sac was visible on the US but no fetus. The sac measured 6x14mm. I have a retroverted uterus. I never had any bleedings, cramps, not even morning sickness. The only symptoms I had were sore and swollen breasts.
After that devastating news I have been doing my own research on the internet and asked friends who had past experiences with miscarriages. The shocking news is that there are many stories on the net of misdiagnosis in early pregnancy of "missed abortion", either because the fetus was not visible, or the heartbeat couldn't be found. Especially with retroverted uteruses the scan sometimes can't pick up the fetus or the heartbeat, as the location may be unusual. Some doctors would send their patients to have a curettage right away after the first diagnosis without questioning it.
One anecdotal example: http://www.misdiagnosedmiscarriage.com/mycommunity/viewtopic.php?t=9336
For a more scientific approach, I found a reference to a study (unfortunately it's only in German):
Missed Abortion: Abwarten und Tee trinken - DocCheck News
It says in 8.3% of known cases where the heartbeat wasn't found the pregnancy still went on. In 2.6% it still went on after no fetus was detected. The earlier in the pregnancy and the smaller the sac, the more probable that it was a misdiagnosis. Mind you, these numbers seem small but it's only of the known cases, which means it doesn't count those who were killed before it was effectively known if it was a right diagnosis or not!
Having said that, I am very upset at my obgyn. Even if he is right, and even if he didn't push me to do a curettage right away, he should have pointed out to the chance that it may be a misdiagnosis at this early stage. But he just sent me away with some painkillers and said if I don't miscarry in 2 weeks, I should call him for a curettage. I am not going to post his name now but I will go for a 2nd opinion next week with another doctor who was recommended to me through a friend. Should I be lucky and it was indeed a misdiagnosis, I will post the obgyn's name who made that mistake since I don't want anyone else to ever go to him and the same happens and in the worst case you kill a baby that was still alive!
I don't know what my chances are, but given my sac was small, I am early in the pregnancy and have a retroverted uterus, never had any bleedings or cramps, I just can't believe I lost the baby. Maybe I am just holding on to false hope after reading all this on the internet, maybe it is gone as it is nature's will and I will continue to grief, but even if so, the doctor should have pointed out to the possibility that it may still be alive and have another check at a later stage!
I will keep everyone posted, please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Hugs!
Only the gestational sac was visible on the US but no fetus. The sac measured 6x14mm. I have a retroverted uterus. I never had any bleedings, cramps, not even morning sickness. The only symptoms I had were sore and swollen breasts.
After that devastating news I have been doing my own research on the internet and asked friends who had past experiences with miscarriages. The shocking news is that there are many stories on the net of misdiagnosis in early pregnancy of "missed abortion", either because the fetus was not visible, or the heartbeat couldn't be found. Especially with retroverted uteruses the scan sometimes can't pick up the fetus or the heartbeat, as the location may be unusual. Some doctors would send their patients to have a curettage right away after the first diagnosis without questioning it.
One anecdotal example: http://www.misdiagnosedmiscarriage.com/mycommunity/viewtopic.php?t=9336
For a more scientific approach, I found a reference to a study (unfortunately it's only in German):
Missed Abortion: Abwarten und Tee trinken - DocCheck News
It says in 8.3% of known cases where the heartbeat wasn't found the pregnancy still went on. In 2.6% it still went on after no fetus was detected. The earlier in the pregnancy and the smaller the sac, the more probable that it was a misdiagnosis. Mind you, these numbers seem small but it's only of the known cases, which means it doesn't count those who were killed before it was effectively known if it was a right diagnosis or not!
Having said that, I am very upset at my obgyn. Even if he is right, and even if he didn't push me to do a curettage right away, he should have pointed out to the chance that it may be a misdiagnosis at this early stage. But he just sent me away with some painkillers and said if I don't miscarry in 2 weeks, I should call him for a curettage. I am not going to post his name now but I will go for a 2nd opinion next week with another doctor who was recommended to me through a friend. Should I be lucky and it was indeed a misdiagnosis, I will post the obgyn's name who made that mistake since I don't want anyone else to ever go to him and the same happens and in the worst case you kill a baby that was still alive!
I don't know what my chances are, but given my sac was small, I am early in the pregnancy and have a retroverted uterus, never had any bleedings or cramps, I just can't believe I lost the baby. Maybe I am just holding on to false hope after reading all this on the internet, maybe it is gone as it is nature's will and I will continue to grief, but even if so, the doctor should have pointed out to the possibility that it may still be alive and have another check at a later stage!
I will keep everyone posted, please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Hugs!
I'm in a dilemma because some stories on the internet say the baby could still be found in rare cases after 10 weeks, but the probability is so small that I have to weigh it against the complications of a natural m/c after 10 weeks. 