What is a blighted ovum?
A blighted ovum, also known as an anembryonic pregnancy, happens when something goes wrong shortly after conception.
In a normal pregnancy, a sperm fertilizes an egg shortly after ovulation.
Doctors can diagnose a blighted ovum using an ultrasound starting at around week 7 of pregnancy.
Imaging will show a smaller than normal and empty gestational sac without an embryo.
What causes a blighted ovum?
Most early miscarriages are due to chromosomal abnormalities.
Research suggests that more than two-thirds of blighted ovum miscarriages involve genetic abnormalities.
Maybe the fertilized egg had an extra chromosome or was missing a chromosome.
That means it just didnt have the right mix of genetic material to continue developing.
Symptoms of blighted ovum
A blighted ovum feels similar to a normal pregnancy at first.
At this point its possible to experience signs of miscarriage, like bleeding and cramping.
How common is a blighted ovum?
Blighted ovum is the most common cause of miscarriage.
Experts estimate that blighted ovum accounts for about 50 percent of all miscarriages in the first trimester.
About 15 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage before 13 weeks of pregnancy.
That makes it difficult to come up with an exact count of how often this condition happens.
Any pregnancy loss, no matter how early, can be heartbreaking.
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