A 28-year-old woman with 8 weeks of amenorrhoea undergoes transvaginal sonography for assessment of bleeding. Which single finding is diagnostic of early pregnancy failure?

• A Absence of cardiac activity at 5 completed weeks
• B Gestational sac mean diameter of 20 mm without a visible embryo
• C Embryonic heart rate of 100 beats per minute at 8 weeks
• D Embryo with a crown-rump length of 10 mm and no cardiac activity ✓

Explanation

D crown-rump length of 7 mm or more without demonstrable cardiac activity is a definitive sonographic criterion of pregnancy failure and needs no repeat scan. D mean sac diameter of 25 mm or more without an embryo would also be diagnostic, but 20 mm falls short of that cutoff, making option B wrong. D heart rate of 100 bpm is suspicious but not diagnostic, and cardiac activity is often not visible at 5 weeks.

Reference: Williams Obstetrics, 26th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.