Dear Dr Ombeva,
I have gone through evacuation for blighted ovum twice in my life. First in 2015 and then in January this year. What is the cause of that? I am so worried. Will I be able to conceive and give birth? Is there something wrong with me? Thanks in advance.
Answer
Thank you for your question. Usually, after a sperm meets an egg, fertilisation occurs. An embryo is formed. Then it travels in the fallopian tube to the uterus (the home of the pregnancy) to implant.
A blighted ovum occurs when a fertilised egg implants in the uterus but doesn’t develop into an embryo. It is also referred to as an anembryonic (no embryo) pregnancy and it is a common cause of early pregnancy failure or miscarriage. Often, it occurs so early you may not even know you are pregnant.
A miscarriage is when a pregnancy ends on its own within the first 20 weeks. When a woman becomes pregnant, the fertilised egg attaches to the wall of the uterus. After about five or six weeks of pregnancy, an embryo should be present. At about this time, the gestational sac (refers to where the foetus develops) is usually about 1.8cm wide. With a blighted ovum, though, the pregnancy sac forms and grows, but the embryo does not develop.
Truth is many pregnancies end at this stage. They never implant. So the journey stops here. That is a miscarriage of some sorts. The woman may never even know she is pregnant. A blighted ovum is the cause of about 50 per cent of first trimester miscarriages and is usually the result of problems with chromosomes. These are problems in the internal genetic makeup of the fertilised embryo.
God being all knowing and amazing designed a woman’s body to recognise abnormal chromosomes in a fetus and naturally does not try to continue the pregnancy because the foetus will not develop into a healthy baby. Your body stops the pregnancy because it recognises this abnormality.
With a blighted ovum, you may have experienced signs of pregnancy. You may have had a positive pregnancy test or a missed period. Then you may have signs of a miscarriage, like abdominal cramps, vaginal spotting or bleeding, a period that is heavier than usual. This condition isn’t caused by anything that you the mother did or didn’t do, either during or before your pregnancy.
Some scientists say the exact cause of blighted ovum isn’t known but its agreed to be caused by chromosomal abnormalities occurring within the fertilised egg. This may be the result of genetics, or of poor-quality eggs or sperm. In most cases, the women still conceive later and give birth to other children.
Dr Ombeva Malande is a specialist pediatrician and can be reached on ombevaom@gmail.com
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