Fetal ultrasound failed to detect heartbeat. Has the child been aborted?

Question

Hello doctor,

My wife's last period date was two months ago. After one month, we came to know that she is pregnant. She had her first ultrasound 10 days ago and the baby is fine at five weeks and five days with a heartbeat of 114. But for the last three to four days, she saw some blood in her urine. Today, there was some flow like a period and we consulted the doctor. We did an ultrasound today. They could not find the baby's heartbeat. So, we did blood tests. My wife is under a lot of stress because of bleeding and no heartbeat. Does this mean, she has got a miscarriage? Do we still have a hope to revive her pregnancy?

Kindly advise.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

If a repeat ultrasound shows no heartbeat then she has experienced a missed abortion. This means that after the arrival of the heartbeat, the heart has stopped and the fetus is no more alive and not growing. The bleeding is nature's way of aborting the non-developing fetus. This can happen because of possible congenital abnormalities or chromosomal abnormalities in the conceptual, which was deemed naturally unfit for further survival. The initial heartbeat of 114 BPM (beats per minute) was itself low. Ideally, it should have been more than 130 in a real fetus. The bleeding may continue for a week until she aborts completely. You may repeat the ultrasound again after a week to check for completion of miscarriage if the bleeding does not stop.

I hope this helps.

Take care.