Track your health and
nutrition the easy way.

An anembryonic gestation (aka blighted ovum) is a pregnancy in which a visible embryo never develops within a normal-appearing gestational sac, which likely occurs as a result of early embryonic death with continued development of the trophoblast. When small, the sac cannot be distinguished from the early normal pregnancy, as there may be a yolk sac, though a fetal pole is not seen.

This is one of the causes of miscarriage of a pregnancy.

For diagnosis, the sac must be of sufficient size that the absence of normal embryonic elements is established.

A pregnancy is anembryonic if a transvaginal ultrasound reveals a sac with a mean gestational sac diameter (MGD) greater than 13 mm and no yolk sac, or a MGD >18 mm with no embryo.

Many centers offer mothers a follow-up ultrasound 10 days later to verify diagnosis.

Several management options exist for anembryonic pregnancies which have not miscarried on their own.

Resources

General Fertility

Fertility LifeLines (http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/)
Fertility News (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/fertility/)
Tracking You Fertility (http://www.fertilityfriend.com/)
Fertility UK (http://www.fertilityuk.org/)
Fertility Plus (http://www.fertilityplus.org/)
Fertility.com (http://www.fertility.com/international/index.jsp)
Male Infertility (http://www.ivf.com/shaban.html)
Male Infertility Specialists (http://www.maleinfertilityspecialists.com/indexNS.htm)
Female Infertility (http://www.pregnancy-info.net/female_infertility_intro.html)
Female Infertility at IntegraMed (http://www.integramed.com/inmdweb/content/cons/main.jsp)

Causes

Blocked Fallopian Tubes (http://www.advancedfertility.com/tubal.htm)
Uterine Fibroids (http://www.4woman.gov/faq/fibroids.htm)
Dilation and Curettage (http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/tw1469)
Cervical Biopsy (http://www.wdxcyber.com/mcervix.htm)
Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) (http://www.4woman.gov/faq/pcos.htm)
Hormone Imbalance (http://www.fertilityjourney.com/aboutFertility/femaleInfertility/hormonalImbalance/index.asp)
Ovarian Cysts (http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/ovariancysts/a/ovariancysts.htm)

Medications

Clomid (Clomiphene Citrate, Serophene) (http://infertility.about.com/cs/clomi1/a/Clomid.htm)
Follistim (http://www.follistim.com/consumer/index.asp)
Crinone (Progesterone Vaginal Gel) (http://www.medicinenet.com/progesterone_gel-vaginal/article.htm)
Gonal-F (Fallitropin alfa injections) (http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/serono/products/gonalf/pen/)
Heparin (http://www.sharedjourney.com/articles/hep.html)
Pergonal, Humegon, and Menopur (http://www.druginfonet.com/humegon.htm)
Metrodin (FSH) (http://www.infertilityphysician.com/ovulation/metrodin.html)
Mucus Problems (http://infertility.about.com/od/femalefactors/a/cervicalmucous.htm)

Conception Methods

In Vitro Fertilization at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilization)
IVF Connections (http://www.ivfconnections.com/)
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) (http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/iui.html)
Surrogacy (http://www.everythingsurrogacy.com/)