New Study Finds Effective Clinical Treatment For Unexplained Recurrent Miscarriages

DENVER, Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent study by the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine (CCRM) has found that a new technique that examines all 23 pairs of chromosomes in a human blastocyst (day five embryo), known as comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS), is an effective clinical treatment for unexplained recurrent miscarriages.

Miscarriage is a relatively common occurrence affecting roughly one in five pregnancies. However, only one to two percent of reproductive-aged women will have three or more consecutive, spontaneous miscarriages. The cause of recurrent miscarriage is complex in nature and can vary from autoimmune disorders to uterine abnormalities. For 50 percent of couples, recurrent miscarriages have no identifiable cause.

"Recurrent miscarriage is one of the most devastating experiences a couple can face," says William Schoolcraft, M.D., medical director of CCRM. "Our latest study offers hope to couples who previously had no where to turn. Comprehensive chromosome screening appears to greatly increase the odds of having a live birth."

It is well known that aneupliod embryos (chromosomally abnormal) will typically result in spontaneous miscarriage. CCRM clinicians recently conducted a study employing CCS and cryopreservation techniques, which allows them to select and transfer only blastocysts that have 23 pairs of chromosomes in a frozen embryo transfer. Study details and findings include:

• 42 women (36.7 mean age) with recurrent miscarriage (at least three proven miscarriages where fetal heartbeat was shown) had in vitro fertilization (IVF) with CCS.

• Nine patients had all aneuploid embryos; therefore, transfers could not be performed.

• Out of 33 patients who had at least one euploid (chromosomally normal) embryo transferred, 87.9 percent had clinical pregnancy; only one pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage.

• All the pregnancies have either resulted in a healthy delivery or are past mid-gestation and the potential live birth rate is 84.8 percent.

"Our two beautiful boys would not exist without the CCS technology at CCRM," says CCRM patient Kristin Scott Pardini. "After three devastating miscarriages we tried IVF with CCS. We had two egg retrievals resulting in a total of 41 eggs. Only one egg produced an embryo that had the necessary 23 chromosome pairs. That one embryo became our first son, Roman, who is now three."

Mandy Katz-Jaffe, PhD, director of research for CCRM added, "Until now, there was thought to be no effective clinical treatment for unexplained recurrent miscarriage, but now we have evidence that CCS can improve the ability to have a successful pregnancy. This is an exciting discovery that will open doors for many couples wanting to have children."

About the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine
Founded in 1987 by Dr. William Schoolcraft, the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine is one of the nation's leading infertility treatment centers, providing a wide spectrum of infertility treatments ranging from basic infertility care to advanced in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. Today, joined by Drs. Eric Surrey, Debra Minjarez, Robert Gustofson and Jennifer Brown, Dr. Schoolcraft and his staff achieve some of the highest pregnancy rates in the country. CCRM has been ranked "The #1 Fertility Center in the U.S., with the Greatest Chance of Success" by Child.com. For more information, visit www.ColoCRM.com.

SOURCE Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine