Pain Management during Surgery for Spontaneous Abortion in Early Pregnancy: Paracervical Block

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends using vacuum aspiration as a surgical treatment for spontaneous and surgical abortion in early pregnancy. They also state that dilatation and curettage (D & C) should be avoided from the perspective of safety and effectiveness and to prevent the risk of endometrial injury as it can cause thinning of the endometrium and Asherman syndrome. Maintaining a good endometrial environment is important for improving the chance of pregnancy. Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) was developed in the 1970s. For spontaneous abortion in the first trimester, MVA reduces the risk of endometrial injury, leading to less intra- and postoperative pain and simplification of anesthesia during surgical treatment for spontaneous abortion. The WHO recommends administering standard pain relief during surgical treatment for medication-induced and spontaneous abortion but does not recommend using routine general anesthesia during MVA and D & C procedures. At our hospital, we perform MVA alone under local anesthesia using a paracervical block for the surgical treatment for spontaneous abortion in early pregnancy, and the safety and effectiveness of this has been previously reported. Here, we will describe the pain management strategy used at our hospital for spontaneous abortion in early pregnancy using MVA.