This is one of a series of news items from abstracts of studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine as complied by Dr. David Meldrum, Scientific Director of Reproductive Partners. We appreciate the enormous amount of work it takes to compile and comment on these abstracts.
There were two abstracts that emphasized the affect of age and chromosomal abnormalities in creating a healthy baby.
Total aneuploidy (abnormal configuration of chromosomes) in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS)based on 23 chromosome analysis was 36% in women under age 38 vs 63% in women 38 or above. With advanced maternal age many chromosomal abnormalities not typically seen in abortuses were found in blastocysts, indicating that many chromosome errors result in failed implantation rather than in pregnancy with a miscarriage.
In another study, women with unexplained recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (SAB) (at least 3 losses) had a significantly more single chromosome abnormalities (monosomies) for chromosome 10, 14,18,20 and 21, and extra chromosome abnormalities (trisomies) for chromosomes 2, 10,12,20, and 22 compared with studies done for other indications. Transfer of normal chromosome (euploid) blasts resulted in 80% ongoing pregnancy with SAB in only 3.4%. PGS may be an excellent option for RSA couples.