This week, NBC’s Today Show is airing an important piece on miscarriage and recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). This is one of the toughest, most emotional experiences for a couple.
In speaking to our patients and based on the viewer comments from the Today Show’s own blog – one of the biggest questions is, “Why did this happen? Everything appeared normal.”
There is no one definitive answer. However, in August 2003, the findings of a Genesis Network for Reproductive Health study were published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility. In three high-risk groups – Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL), Advanced Maternal Age (AMA), and Repeated Failed Cycles – the procedure Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) was shown to be beneficial, since there is a tendency toward higher pregnancy and implantation rates with its use. The study also confirmed aneuploidy as a common cause of RPL. Aneuploidy is the medical term for when there are too many or too few chromosomes present in the embryo. When observing embryos for high-risk groups, 25 to 30 percent of these patients have all embryos abnormal – shedding light on their fertility challenges to carry successfully.
Also, in view of the large numbers of abnormal embryos in each of these groups, PGD enables couples to consider alternative options, such as donor eggs, donor embryos, and/or adoption, sooner.
There are many reasons to pursue PGD as a diagnostic and therapeutic fertility tool when trying to start a family. Some of the PGD-warranted situations in which infertility patients can benefit from PGD include:
• when fertility is complicated by the threat of hereditary diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and Huntington’s Disease;
• when the health of embryos has lead to miscarriages due to the refusal of embryos to implant; aneuploidy – a condition whereby an embryo has too many, or not enough chromosomes – is a common cause; and
• when a woman is in a high-risk group due to recurrent miscarriage, advanced maternal age or repeated failed cycles