Recurrent Miscarriage
There are many causes of recurrent miscarriage, couples who have experienced several early losses where no underlying cause have been found may benefit from having a cycle of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) with genetic testing of the embryos.
It is well known that older women (40 years of age and over) have a greatly increased risk of producing eggs with an abnormal number of chromosomes. Recent research has shown that some women who have experienced early miscarriage also show an increased risk of producing abnormal eggs compared with other women of the same age.
Undergoing an IVF cycle allows each embryo to be screened for chromosomal abnormalities. This process is known as pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS). One cell is removed from the embryo when it is just 3 days old and consists of 6-8 cells. This cell is tested for anomalies in chromosome numbers 13,15,16,18, 21 & 22; these are the chromosomes most frequently found to be abnormal in early embryos and in miscarriages. If the abnormality has arisen in the egg (or sperm) then it will affect every cell in the embryo to the same degree.
Many couples who had experienced repeated early miscarriages have subsequently received IVF treatment at the Centre combined with the testing of their embryos for chromosomal errors. Half of these couples, whose ages ranged from 29 to 42, have gone on to achieve an ongoing pregnancy and the number of miscarriages has reduced dramatically.
Many couples who had experienced repeated early miscarriages have subsequently received IVF treatment at the Centre combined with the testing of their embryos for chromosomal errors. Half of these couples, whose ages ranged from 29 to 42, have gone on to achieve an ongoing pregnancy and the number of miscarriages has reduced dramatically.
It should be recognised that PGS is still considered experimental as more data is currently being collected worldwide to look at the effectiveness of this procedure.
