Late Termination of Pregnancy: A Retrospective Evaluation of 243 Pregnancies In A Tertiary Medical Center

Objective: This study aims to assess changes in the indications for late termination of pregnancy performed after 24 weeks of gestation over the years. Material and Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a cohort who requested late termination of pregnancy after a diagnosis of fetal abnormality at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, between January 2007 and December 2022. The cases were divided into two groups with 8-year time intervals: Group 1 spanning from January 2007 to December 2014, and Group 2 spanning from January 2015 to December 2022. Results: A total of 243 cases were evaluated in the analysis, with 127 (52.3%) cases in Group 1 and 116 (47.7%) cases in Group 2. Over the past sixteen years, the most frequent reasons for late termination of pregnancy involving fetuses were central nervous system malformations (43.2%), cardiovascular system anomalies (17.3%), and chromosomal abnormalities (11.1%). A significant increase was noted over the course of time in the percentage of instances presenting cardiovascular system anomalies and chromosomal abnormalities (p