MVAC to the future

Most commonly, women opting for surgical management of miscarriage require an inpatient procedure under general anaesthetic in the operating theatre (known as a suction curette). This requires several hospital visits and the women encounter several different clinicians during their stay. The majority of this experience is navigated without the comfort of a support person.

MVAC is a procedure also used for the management of miscarriage, retained products of conception and termination of pregnancy. It is performed with a hand operated vacuum syringe under local anaesthetic in an outpatient setting. The procedure is recommended by the World Health Organisation for uterine evacuation and is used in many countries as an alternative to suction curette under general anaesthetic (GA). At the time of this abstract submission, uptake is high, patient satisfaction is over 95%, complication rates are equivalent to management in theatre and several other hospitals around Queensland have approached our department with the view of adopting this innovative service.