Miscarriage After an Amniocentesis

• The exact cause of the miscarriage after an amniocentesis is not known.
• Miscarriage after an amniocentesis is thought to be due to infection or bleeding but this is not proven as it is not possible to carry out satisfactory research in this area.
• Miscarriages happen up to two weeks after and the risk goes down after three weeks.
• An amniocentesis may cause miscarriage of a normal baby or a baby with a chromosome problem.
• It is not possible to know who will miscarry.
• You may be more likely to miscarry if you: (ref 7, 8)

- are over 40;
- had bleeding in the pregnancy;
- had three or more previous miscarriages in the first trimester of pregnancy;
- had previous miscarriage or termination of pregnancy in the second trimester;
- had multiple needle insertions during the amniocentesis procedure.