Talk:Vacuum aspiration

Procedure names and use for miscarriage vs. abortion
There is some discussion at Talk:Dilation and evacuation about procedure names, and what they are used for (abortion vs. miscarriage) that might end up being relevant to this article. Lyrl Talk C 17:41, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Rename proposal
This procedure is used for miscarriage as well as induced abortion. To be consistent with the medical move away from the term "abortion" for spontaneous pregnancy termination, I would like to remove the word "abortion" from the name of the article. On Google, "suction aspiration" gets about 21,000 hits. "Vacuum aspiration" gets about 132,000. "Suction curettage" gets about 55,000 hits. All three terms appear to be synonymous, and exclusive to this procedure (based on search results). The current article name, excluding Wikipedia and mirrors, gets less than 1,000 hits. As it appears to be the most commonly used term, I'm proposing a rename to Vacuum aspiration.

Others' thoughts? Lyrl Talk C 19:55, 7 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Sounds good to me. I'm curious, what did you mean when you said "the medical move away from the term abortion..."?  Joie de Vivre 20:24, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Looking around, my only reference for any "medical move" is this editorial. I guess it just sounded so convincing to me I took it to heart as "official", though it looks like it's actually just a suggestion at this point. Thanks for your comment on the renaming. Lyrl  Talk C 21:17, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Edit 22 July 2007
LyrlTalk C 18:20, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I have significantly toned down the emphasis of electric and manual vacuum aspiration as distinct procedures. The actual procedures (from my reading of the current sources) appear to be identical, just the source of suction is different.  Part of this was combining the MVA and EVA sections into a new "Procedure" section.
 * The IPAS source says that manual vacuum aspiration can be used up to the 12th week of pregnancy, just like electric vacuum aspiration, so I have changed the infobox and text of the article accordingly.
 * I removed the reference to a paracervical block. Other anesthetics appear to also be used, in addition to or instead of a paracervical block (see for example ), so I'm hesitant to specify a pain treatment method.
 * I removed all the claimed synonyms for MVA, as they do not appear to be popular enough to need to be included here (each term gets less than 1,000 hits on Google).
 * I moved the uncited comment about the Karman cannula into a new "History" section. I may try to find a cite for that and expand the section at a later date, or maybe the existence of an uncited stubby section will motivate others to do this.  I removed the claim that MVA does not require cervical dilation or local anesthesia because the IPAS source contradicts these statements.  I removed the anecdote about Edwards' studies because they seem off topic (although it might be appropriate to add this back in a modified form in the "History" section).
 * I have added a new section "Clinical uses" to de-emphasize the article's previous focus on abortion. There are other things this procedure is used for.
 * I have also tried to cite the article better. Mostly this was just adding new ref tags - the sources were already cited elsewhere in the article.
 * I also created a new section "Advantages over dilation and curettage" since vacuum aspiration seems to be in the process of taking the place of the D&C procedure.
 * I removed the external links section - two were only to websites of abortion providers, which did not provide any specific further information on vacuum aspiration. The third link is used as a reference, so no need to list it again in EL.
 * I removed pro-choice and abortion law from the see-also section. I'm not sure why they were there in the first place.  I also added dilation and curettage since the conditions it is used for have a large amount of overlap with vacuum aspiration.
 * I removed the stub tags. I'm not sure they were necessary even before I made this large edit.

Merge with Menstrual extraction
We're having trouble coming up with a definitive definition of "menstrual extraction" that will determine whether it differs from "vacuum aspiration" technically or just in social context (in which case it probably should be merged). Does anyone have access to a copy of:

Vagary 23:59, 11 October 2007 (UTC) Menstrual extraction should not be merged with vacuum aspiration as the former is not a method of abortion per se, it is somewhere between contraception and abortion. 22.35 22 November 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.148.190.76 (talk) 22:36, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

I've only heard of this procedure as menstrual extraction. If my search on this phrase hadn't turned up a page, I wouldn't have known what other terms to try. I would suggest either keeping them two separate pages, or making sure to redirect queries on menstrual extraction to the vacuum aspiration page.CatFaber (talk) 21:10, 8 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, ME is used for something like contraception. The question is: is there any technical difference or just social difference? And if just social, is that enough difference to warrant a separate article? Vagary (talk) 06:16, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I don't have a login or have forgotten it. I just wanted to add that vacuum aspiration is performed by a doctor, while menstrual extraction can either be performed by the individual on their own body, or performed by one layperson in order to assist another individual. While there is suction performed either way, and the contents of the uterus are removed, the setting is completely different. It's like saying OB-GYNs and midwives are the same thing; they definitely aren't. Menstrual extraction also has the distinction of being something either developed by, or altered in some way, by feminists looking to circumvent abortion laws. I'm just a random person, but I see value in letting these two procedures have their own pages. I have not deleted any of the previous text or discussion. Dani

Diagram for Vacuum aspiration
It is my suggesting to add a diagram of vacuum aspiration surgical abortion to this page. http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/imagescooked/11041W.jpg and http://www.abort73.com/HTML/I/Techniques/suction-01.html are suggestions. 96.229.94.235 (talk) 19:52, 10 September 2008 (UTC)Chris Schmenk 09/10/2008

Syringe
I have added a sentence pointing out that a hand-held 25cc or 50cc syringe can function as a manual suction pump. With a reference. Goblinshark17 (talk) 19:17, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Vacuum aspiration. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070927011336/http://healthgate.partners.org/browsing/browseContent.asp?fileName=11672.xml&title=Miscarriage to http://healthgate.partners.org/browsing/browseContent.asp?fileName=11672.xml&title=Miscarriage
 * Added tag to http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/pregnancy-loss-neonatal-death?page=3

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:40, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Updates August 2020
- I have added a photo of MVA and added "sharp" to all references to D&C in order to clarify distinction between suction D&C and sharp D&C. FamPlanMD08 (talk) 03:38, 2 August 2020 (UTC)FamPlanMD08

- Shall we merge this page into the "dilation and curettage" article? FamPlanMD08 (talk) 17:24, 10 August 2020 (UTC)FamPlanMD08

Anatomical diagram
It is requested that an anatomical diagram or diagrams be included in this article to improve its quality. What type of diagram exactly and doesn't it already have one, can someone speciify? Hank the Sniper (talk) 23:19, 29 August 2022 (UTC)