Miscarriage

Miscarriage is pregnancy loss within the first 20 weeks from conception, and it is heartbreaking and surprisingly common. 10-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, with some studies suggesting the numbers might be even higher with a high proportion of miscarriages occurring before a woman even knows she’s pregnant. Most miscarriages occur during the first trimester - and once a pregnancy reaches the 12-week mark, the risk of loss drops to just 2%.

 

The physical experience of a miscarriage can vary widely. Some women will experience cramping and heavy bleeding, while others will have no notable symptoms at all as the foetus dies and stays in the uterus. This is known as a missed or silent miscarriage and women are usually given the choice of having a surgical procedure to remove the foetus, of using medication or waiting for the foetus to naturally pass from the uterus.

The most important thing to know when it comes to miscarriages is that in almost 100% of cases, it is not caused by something done by the mother. There is almost never anything that could have been done to prevent an early pregnancy being lost if that is what the body has decided is going to happen.

 

Indeed, the vast majority of miscarriages are unexplained, partly because they are not usually investigated until a woman has two or three in a row. A random genetic abnormality is usually thought to be the cause of most miscarriages, and about nine in 10 genetically abnormal pregnancies will not survive past the first trimester.

 

In normal human cells there are 46 chromosomes, which contain DNA and genes. When cells have the wrong number of chromosomes, the error is known as aneuploidy. (The most widely known example of aneuploidy is Down Syndrome which is the result of the foetus having three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two.)

 

As random chromosome problems are thought to be the cause of the majority of miscarriages, Genea offers GeneSure™, a leading embryo screening technique PGT-A that allows scientists to screen an embryo in the lab as part of the IVF process and to ensure it has the correct number and sequence of chromosomes in the DNA. This screening process occurs before the embryo is transferred back to the uterus so we can ensure only healthy embryos are transferred.

 

For women over 38, GeneSure™ has been shown to double the live birth rate and halve the miscarriage rate per embryo transfer, making it a worthwhile option for couples experiencing recurrent miscarriage**.