Context: Cervical incompetence is a major cause of recurrent mid-trimester pregnancy loss and preterm deliveries; it contributes significantly to fetal loss and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Despite its wide use, the effectiveness of cervical cerclage in its management remains unsettled.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of cervical cerclage by comparing the pregnancy outcome before and after its insertion in women with cervical incompetence.Study design: An observational study [retrospective] of 95 women diagnosed with cervical incompetence that had cervical cerclage inserted from 1st January 2007 to31st December 2010. The pregnancy outcomebefore and after cervical cerclage were compared, the data was analyzed using SPSS version 18; p value <0.05 was considered significant.Main outcome measure: The gestational age at the end of pregnancy, the duration of prolongation of the pregnancy after cervical cerclage and the pregnancy outcome.Results: Of 103 cases of cervical incompetence managed, 95 satisfied the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of cervical incompetence was 8.4/1000 deliveries or 0.85%. There were 85 elective and 10 emergency cerclage with mean gestational age at end of pregnancy of 36.06±3.96 vs. 25.10±3.99 and mean duration of prolongation of pregnancy 20.98±4.71 vs. 4.00±3.37 weeks. After cervical cerclage insertion, there was reduction in miscarriages [P<0.0001] and preterm deliveries [P<0.0001] and increase in term deliveries [P=0.4100] and viable pregnancies [P=0.001]. The child take home rate was 89.4% following elective and 20% after emergency cervical cerclage.Conclusion: Cervical cerclage resulted in improved pregnancy outcome in women with previous midtrimester losses or preterm delivery.Keywords: Cervical cerclage; cervical incompetence; pregnancy outcome; intervention
