Diagnostic features of cervical incompetence among women in Maiduguri.

ABSTRACT

The study was a review of the clinical features used to diagnose cervical incompetence. One hundred and forty-one clinical records of patients who had cervical cerclage inserted for cervical incompetence at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital over a 5-year period, were studied retrospectively. Previous mid-trimester abortion occurred in 80.1% of the patients and was consecutive in 98 patients (69.5%). Sixty-eight (50.7%) patients had previous preterm deliveries, while 65 (46.1%) had a cervical cerclage inserted in a previous pregnancy. They had associated characteristic rapid painless expulsions of the fetus in previous pregnancies. One hundred and thirty-six patients had the McDonald's method of insertion (96.5%). There was a significant association between histories of previous midtrimester abortions, consecutive mid-trimester abortions and preterm delivery, with a significantly greater proportion of women with a previous history of preterm delivery having a recurrence in spite of the insertion of the cervical cerclage.