Multifetal pregnancy reduction in Sweden. Utilization rate and pregnancy outcome (1986-1992)

All departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as all private clinics in Sweden offering assisted conception, were surveyed by means of a questionnaire to determine the utilization rate and outcome of multifetal pregnancy reduction (MFR) for the period 1 January 1986 to 30 June 1992. The response rae was 100%. Multifetal reduction was performed in 26 women, giving an average utilization rate of 1/7 multiple births of three or more for the entire period. Of the various techniques used, intracardiac or intrathoracic injection of a potassium chloride solution was predominant. The experience of each center with multifetal reductions varied between one and six procedures. In this series, the overall complete pregnancy loss was 27% (n = 7). In 73% (n = 19) of women the pregnancy continued to delivery. One fetus died in utero in the second trimester, one child died from a subtentorial hemorrhage perinatally, and one child had a malformation of the right foot and hand. It seems necessary to limit MFR to a few centers in Sweden in order to maintain and increase the experience of the operators involved, and to decrease the fetal loss rate associated with the procedure. However, the ultimate goal is to make these procedures unnecessary when methods of avoiding excessive ovulation are refined and by limiting the number of replaced embryos in IVF-treatment.