Genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction.

<bold>Objective: </bold>Our purpose was to evaluate the pregnancy loss rate resulting from genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction.<bold>Study Design: </bold>A cohort study was performed in pregnancies with maternal age >30 years. Pregnancy loss in a study population of 127 patients who underwent genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction were compared with a control group of 167 patients who did not have genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction.<bold>Results: </bold>The pregnancy loss rate in patients who underwent genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction was 3.1% (4/127 cases) compared with 7.2% (12/167 cases) in the controls (P >.05). In the study group evidence of infection was found in only 1 case, in which the pregnancy loss occurred 1 day after the amniocentesis. In the other cases the pregnancy losses occurred 5 weeks after genetic amniocentesis, and these losses could not be directly attributed to either genetic amniocentesis or the multifetal reduction procedure.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Our data suggest that the performance of genetic amniocentesis after multifetal pregnancy reduction does not increase the risk of pregnancy loss over that observed in association with the reduction itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]