ABSTRACT
Miscarriage is a term often used interchangeably with complete miscarriage by the lay public and even medical professionals. A better term for the healthcare professional involved in an Early Pregnancy Unit is ‘early pregnancy failure’. Any chapter entitled ‘The diagnosis of miscarriage’ has to begin with some housekeeping by defining varying terms that are often confused. The definitions used in clinical practice are unsatisfactory and need to be rationalized. Some reflect the clinical presentation and others the findings on ultrasonography. Some miscarriages will be obvious because of the presence of pregnancy products in the cervix or vagina. In reality, prior to an ultrasound scan, in most cases the problem can only be classified as ‘bleeding and pain in early pregnancy’. An accurate diagnosis will only be possible in most cases after an ultrasound scan and in some following the measurement of serial levels of serum hCG. However for the sake of completeness the following are commonly used definitions.
