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. 1988 Sep;34:2053–2059.

Miscarriage

Sally Helme Jorgensen, Michael Klein
PMCID: PMC2219137  PMID: 21253239

Abstract

Newer techniques for diagnosing early pregnancy have shown that post-implantation embryo loss may be four times the accepted rate of 15%-20%. This article describes various causes of spontaneous abortion and its clinical evaluation and treatment, and proffers suggestions for answering the questions of women who have experienced this loss.

Keywords: miscarriage, pregnancy loss, etiology, management

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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