[First year experience using arabin cervical pessary with intravaginal micronized progesterone for the prevention of preterm birth in patients with mid-trimester short cervix].

BACKGROUND

Arabin cervical pessary is a silicone ring pessary for the prevention of preterm birth (PTB] for pregnant women at risk with second trimester short uterine cervix. Progesterone supplementation has been found to prevent PTB.

OBJECTIVE

To review our first year of experience using Arabin cervical pessary with intravaginal micronized progesterone in the prevention PTB.

METHODS

The study included patients (pt) with singleton and twin pregnancies at 16-30 weeks with uterine cervical length < or = 25 mm treated with Arabin cervical pessary and intravaginal progesterone over one year from September 2011 to September 2012. Progesterone treatment was continued until 34 weeks and pessary was extracted at 36 weeks or in cases of preterm labor, bleeding or other medical indications.

RESULTS

The study group included 43 patients, 31 (72.1%) singleton and 12 (27.9%) twins. The average week at admission was 25+2 weeks [w] [SD +/- 3.05], and the average cervical length at admission was 13.5 mm (SD +/- 5.0). A total of 11 patients had previous PTB; in 2 patients the pessary was placed after cerclage failure. The average week of delivery was 35 + 5 weeks SD +/- 3.2 (singleton 36 + w SD +/- 2.6, twins 33 + 4 SD +/- 4.1, p = 0.05); the average time between pessary insertion to delivery 72.1 days SD +/- 26.2 (singleton 76.3 SD +/- 22.9 twins 60.2 SD +/- 28.9 p = 0.02), in 23 patients (53.5%) the pessary was extracted at > or = 36 + 6w, 5 patients 111.6%) delivered < or = 32w (2 singleton, 3 twins, p = 0.08) and 18 patients (41.8%) reported increased vaginal discharge.

CONCLUSION

The use of cervical pessary in conjunction with intravaginal progesterone is safe and feasible. Patients with twin pregnancies had a significantly higher rate of preterm birth compared to singleton pregnancies. Further research is needed to assess device efficacy.