Multiple miscarriages used to be a medical mystery, but new scientific research is shedding light on the loss.
Learn which cutting-edge tests and treatments show the most promise...and which ones to be wary of.
Right now, in laboratories from New York to New South Wales, doctors and scientists are peering through microscopes, hoping to find a future where every pregnancy can result in a healthy, full-term baby. “There is a lot of interesting research currently being done into the causes of recurrent miscarriage,” explains Henry Lerner, M.D., clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and author of Miscarriage: Why it Happens and How Best to Reduce Your Risks (Perseus Book Group, 2003). “As we learn more and more about genetics, embryology, immunology, and blood clotting, we should be able to develop better tools to help counteract the causes of miscarriage and decrease their frequency.”
The explosion of new research over the past decade is certainly welcome news to couples who have suffered through the heartbreak of three or more miscarriages. But doctors warn that before you sign over your life savings to pay for latest “miracle” cures, you must be fully informed about any side effects, and also understand that most of these treatments are years away from an unqualified stamp of approval. “If you go into one of these alternative therapies, make sure you understand that it is not traditional, and that you are part of an experiment to try to learn more about it,” cautions Lawrence Grunfeld, M.D., clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Also keep in mind that today’s breakthrough may be tomorrow’s disappointment: Some treatments that seemed promising just a few years ago have not held up to deeper scrutiny.
“Before you start going to the edge of medical knowledge and using experimental tests and treatments, make sure you have all the basic tests done, including chromosomal analysis, checking for uterine abnormalities, and testing hormone levels,” advises William M. Kutteh, M.D., Ph.D., director of reproductive endocrinology and immunology at Fertility Associates of Memphis.
But if every last test comes out normal and you are still suffering from repeated pregnancy losses, you may want to explore some of these new treatments, out on the cutting edge of research:
Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis
Chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause of both random and recurrent miscarriages: The embryo is simply too flawed to develop into a viable baby. With most random miscarriages, the damage occurs when the chromosomes from the egg and the sperm fail to line up correctly. However, in couples with recurrent pregnancy loss, it’s possible that the abnormality is inherited rather than a fluke of nature, meaning that there is a flaw on one of the father’s or mother’s genes. The flaw—such as a translocation, where part of one chromosome is attached to another—may not affect the father or mother’s health at all, but can prevent an embryo from developing. However, since the embryo only inherits half of each parent’s genes, there is still a chance of creating a healthy baby if the gene with the defect gets bypassed.
Right now, since there is currently no way to “fix” human chromosomes, scientists are instead focusing on how to sift through a group of embryos to separate out the good from the bad through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Done in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF), PGD is offered by more than 50 clinics worldwide and has been successfully used since the early ’90s to screen out embryos with inherited diseases such as sickle-cell anemia.
