***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: The objective of our study was to investigate the relationship between sonographic findings and the occurrence of abortion in pregnancies complicated by first-trimester bleeding in which fetal cardiac activity was documented upon admission . A prospect i ve study of transvaginal sonography was performed in 270 pregnant patients with bleeding between 5 and 12 weeks ' gestation . The study group included 149 cases in which a singleton fetus with cardiac activity was initially documented . The outcome variable was pregnancy loss prior to 20 weeks . The influence of sonographic findings on admission was studied by univariate analysis and logistic regression . The prevalence of abortion was 23/149 ( 15 % ) . A significant relationship ( p < 0.05 ) was found between the occurrence of abortion and the following : fetal bradycardia ( heart rate less than -1.2 SD from the mean ) , a discrepancy between the diameter of the gestational sac and crown-rump length less than -0.5 SD from the mean , and a discrepancy between menstrual and sonographic age of more than 1 week . According to the logistic regression equation that was obtained , the probability of abortion in first-trimester bleeding with documented fetal cardiac activity upon admission varied between a minimum of 6 % when none of the above risk factors were present and a maximum of 84 % when all were present . The presence of any of the above factors identified 84 % of all subsequent abortions Between 1983 and 1984 a double-blind r and omized study with progesterone substitution in threatened abortion was carried out . Fifty-six patients with vaginal bleeding during the first trimester of pregnancy , the internal cervical os being closed , were referred to the hospital . Twenty-five women ( 5th and 6th week of gestation ) with positive serum concentrations of beta-hCG were admitted to the study without regard to sonogram results . In other 25 women ( 7th-10th week of pregnancy ) and 6 women ( greater than or equal to 11th week of pregnancy )  fetal heart action and movement could be demonstrated by ultrasound . The patients were prescribed bed rest and vaginal suppositories twice daily , containing either 25 mg progesterone or only polyethylene glycol . The code was not broken until after completion of the study . Serial serum determinations of beta-hCG , estradiol-17 beta ( E2 ) , progesterone , and ultrasound  were performed . Four patients had to be omitted from final analysis ( two tubal pregnancies , one intrauterine infection , one sectio parva ) . Three of 26 patients progesterone ( 11 % ) and five of 26 patients with placebo ( 19 % ) had an abortion , which represented no significant difference . Frequency of abortion was increased in women more than 30 years old , in women with previous abortions and after ovulation induction . Progesterone treatment result ed in a significant elevation of serum progesterone concentrations ( p less than 0.01 ) , while beta-hCG and E2 were unchanged . The results of this study confirm that pregnancy outcome is favorable in women with bleeding and normal hormone concentrations without hormonal treatment and unfavorable in women with reduced beta-hCG and E2-concentrations . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS In a prospect i ve study 265 patients with threatened abortions were divided into 2 groups . One group of 134 patients received treatment with Oestradiol benzoat and hydroxyprogesterone capronat . The other group of 131 patients received no hormonal treatment . Of the group treated with hormones 40.7 % of the women had an abortion . Of the group treated with placebos 39.7 % of the patients had an abortion . There was therefore no difference in the success rate of the treatment of threatened abortion irrespective of the administration of hormones or placebos . The value of hormonal therapy in the treatment of threatened abortion is therefore question able The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of vaginal progesterone on endocervical cytokine concentration in women at risk of threatened abortion . One hundred and sixty pregnant women with clinical symptoms of threatened abortion before the 20th week of pregnancy were r and omly assigned to receive vaginal progesterone or placebo . Cervical fluids were collected and endocervical concentrations of different cytokines ( IFNγ , TNFα , IL-8 , IL-10 and IL-12 ) were analyzed before and one week after progesterone or placebo treatment . A significant decrease in IFNγ and increase in IL-10 in endocervical fluid was seen when the values were compared before and after progesterone treatment . However , there were no significant differences in pregnancy outcomes between the placebo and progesterone groups . We conclude that despite the failure of vaginal progesterone treatment to improve pregnancy outcomes , progesterone can induce a shift in the concentration of cytokines in endocervical secretions BACKGROUND Midtrimester amniocentesis to investigate fetal karyotype carries a small risk of fetal loss . AIM To test the hypothesis that progesterone prophylaxis may reduce this . STUDY DESIGN A r and omised controlled trial comparing a short prophylactic treatment with progesterone after amniocentesis with untreated controls . RESULTS There were no differences in frequency of miscarriage , preterm delivery or neonatal outcome . CONCLUSION Prophylactic progesterone treatment after amniocentesis does not improve obstetric outcome Presented herein is a r and omized prospect i ve study performed to evaluate the efficacy of the addition of lymphocyte immunotherapy ( LI ) to progesterone ( P ) therapy ( LI/P ) for the prevention of spontaneous abortion ( SAB ) in primary aborters with a history of three SABs . The incidence of intrauterine pregnancies in four cycles was 23 of 35 ( 65.7 % ) patients for LI/P vs. 14 of 31 ( 45.1 % ) patients treated with progesterone alone .  SABs occurred in 6 of 23 ( 26.0 % ) LI/P-treated patients compared to 8 of 14 ( 57.1 % ) given progesterone alone . The mean number of previous abortions in both groups was 3.9 . The  mean age of the LI/P group was 34.1 vs. 33.6 years for the group treated with progesterone alone . These data could be interpreted to show that progesterone therapy and LI independently inhibit SAB or that LI/P acts synergistically to inhibit immune destruction .  LI/P therapy was found to be more effective than progesterone therapy alone One hundred cases of threatened abortion were r and omly allocated to four lines of treatment namely , long acting progesterone , antispasmodic , indomethacin and placebo . The lowest success rate was encountered in the indomethacin treated group ; symptoms of intolerance were common and three cases out of sixteen turned into missed abortion . Indomethacin does not offer any advantage over other lines of treatment in threatened abortion BACKGROUND The aim was to study whether prolongation of luteal support during early pregnancy influences the delivery rate after IVF . METHODS Dual centre study including 303 women who achieved pregnancy after IVF or ICSI was used . All were treated with the long protocol using GnRH agonists and given luteal support with 200 mg vaginal progesterone three times daily during 14 days from the day of transfer until the day of a positive HCG test . The study group ( n = 150 ) withdrew vaginal progesterone from the day of positive HCG . The control group ( n = 153 ) continued administration of vaginal progesterone during the next 3 weeks of pregnancy . RESULTS The number of miscarriages prior to and after week 7 of gestation was seven ( 4.6 % ) and 15 ( 10.0 % ) in the study group and five ( 3.3 % ) and 13 ( 8.5 % ) in the control group respectively . The number of deliveries was 118 ( 78.7 % ) in the study group and 126 ( 82.4 % ) in the control group . The differences were not significant . CONCLUSIONS Prolongation of progesterone supplementation in early pregnancy has no influence on the miscarriage rate , and thus no effect on the delivery rate .  Progesterone supplementation can safely be withdrawn at the time of a positive HCG test BACKGROUND Women who have had a spontaneous preterm delivery are at greatly increased risk for preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies . The results of several small trials have suggested that 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate ( 17P ) may reduce the risk of preterm delivery . METHODS We conducted a double-blind , placebo-controlled trial involving pregnant women with a documented history of spontaneous preterm delivery . Women were enrolled at 19 clinical centers at 16 to 20 weeks of gestation and r and omly assigned by a central data center , in a 2:1 ratio , to receive either weekly injections of 250 mg of 17P or weekly injections of an inert oil placebo ; injections were continued until delivery or to 36 weeks of gestation . The primary outcome was preterm delivery before 37 weeks of gestation . Analysis was performed according to the intention-to-treat principle . RESULTS Base-line characteristics of the 310 women in the progesterone group and the 153 women in the placebo group were similar . Treatment with 17P significantly reduced the risk of delivery at less than 37 weeks of gestation ( incidence , 36.3 percent in the progesterone group vs. 54.9 percent in the placebo group ; relative risk , 0.66 [ 95 percent confidence interval , 0.54 to 0.81 ] ) , delivery at less than 35 weeks of gestation ( incidence , 20.6 percent vs. 30.7 percent ; relative risk , 0.67 [ 95 percent confidence interval , 0.48 to 0.93 ] ) , and delivery at less than 32 weeks of gestation ( 11.4 percent vs. 19.6 percent ; relative risk , 0.58 [ 95 percent confidence interval , 0.37 to 0.91 ] ) . Infants of women treated with 17P had significantly lower rates of necrotizing enterocolitis , intraventricular hemorrhage , and need for supplemental oxygen . CONCLUSIONS Weekly injections of 17P result ed in a substantial reduction in the rate of recurrent preterm delivery among women who were at particularly high risk for preterm delivery and reduced the likelihood of several complications in their infants Deficiency in the luteal phase has been shown during stimulated cycles using a protocol involving a GnRH agonist . The authors undertook a r and omised prospect i ve trial of supplementation by progesterone of the luteal phase and of early pregnancy in two hundred and seventy two patients requiring fertilisation in vitro ( FIV ) , gamete inter-fallopian transfer ( GIFT ) or zygote inter-fallopian transfer ( ZIFT ) .  Either progesterone in solution in oil ( 50 mg/day ) administered by intramuscular injection or micronized progesterone administered intra-vaginally ( 600 mg/d ) were used as support for the luteal phase . Administration of progesterone in association with estradiol valerate was started on the day prior to oocyte puncture and was continued until the 12th week of pregnancy . The implantation rate was very close to the threshold of significance ( P = 0.07 ) in favour of the patients given vaginal progesterone . There was a higher rate of clinical pregnancies ( 33.6 versus 26.7 p. cent ) in the latter group , though this was not significant . While plasma progesterone ( Pg ) levels were lower in patients using vaginal progesterone , the abortion rate during the first three months was lower in this group ( P < 0.05 ) . Micronized progesterone administered vaginally was well tolerated by all patients . During stimulated cycles , notably by GnRHa , it thus proved to be more effective than Pg administered by intramuscular injection with regard to implantation and abortion rates Summary . The clinical and endocrine effects of progestogen therapy in early pregnancy were investigated using a double‐blind r and omized trial in 64 patients who had a viable fetus at 6 weeks gestation and had an increased risk of miscarriage . The patients were r and omly allocated to receive either 17 alpha‐hydroxyprogesterone caproate or a placebo between 7 and 12 weeks gestation . Four fetal ultrasonographic variables and 17 maternal endocrine variables were studied in each woman . Only four maternal serum variables ( 17 alpha‐hydroxyprogesterone , prolactin , thyroxin and thyroxin binding globulin ) rose significantly . The serum progesterone levels in the hormone supplemented group were on average 20 % higher than in the placebo group but the difference was not statistically significant . However , the relation between the progesterone levels and the fetal outcome was not clear . Therefore it is not advisable to prescribe 17‐OHP‐C during early pregnancy to prevent a miscarriage BACKGROUND A combination of mifepristone and misoprostol provides an effective method of medical abortion for early pregnancy . This is the first r and omized trial comparing the use of sublingual misoprostol with vaginal misoprostol in combination with mifepristone for termination of early pregnancies up to 63 days . METHODS A total of 224 women who requested legal termination of pregnancy up to 63 days were r and omized by computer- generated list into two groups and given 200 mg of oral mifepristone followed 48 
    Output:
    
Based on scarce data from two method ologically poor trials , there is no evidence to support the routine use of progestogens for the treatment of threatened miscarriage .