Termination of pregnancy and reasons for delayed decisions.

Objective: To assess the indications and distribution of cases chosen for termination of pregnancy and reasons delaying until third trimester termination.

Methods: Retrospective study of cases between 2002 and 2006 in the hospital council. Cases were divided in two groups, as early termination (<23 weeks of gestation) and late termination (≥23 weeks of gestation). All pregnant women who underwent termination were classified according to related systemic pathology and chorionicity. Reasons for delaying until third trimester termination were evaluated in four groups.

Results: During this five year period 1.449 complicated pregnancies were counseled and in 713 cases termination was offered. Of 677 cases (94.95%) with termination, 412 cases (60.09%) had early and 265 cases (39.91%) late termination. The most frequent indications were central nervous system abnormalities (51.7%), chromosomal abnormalities (11.7%), and urogenital abnormalities (8.4%). The main reason for delaying termination was failure of screening by ultrasound (65.6%).

Conclusion: Systematic screening for fetal anomalies is the main step for prevention of affected pregnancies. Information given to parents for TOP is important, but the decision for TOP is influenced by many factors.