A third of miscarriages preventable with steroid treatment

Sep 10 2008

A conference in Liverpool in the UK has heard how some women who have suffered repeated miscarriages or failed IVF treatments may be helped to become mothers by taking a course of steroids.

Research presented at the British Association conference has shown that many of the 3,000 unexplained miscarriages each year may have been prevented with the use of a drug.

Dr. Siobhan Quenby, of the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, says that tests involving 120 women had identified natural killer cells as a cause of miscarriages and failed IVF embryo implants.

While such natural but potentially deadly cells are beneficial in most of the body because they can destroy infected or malignant cells, in the uterus they have been found to promote rapid growth of blood vessels when present in high numbers.

These blood vessels then transport additional oxygen-bearing blood which can cause miscarriages or prevent embryos implanting.

Steroids prescribed to 40 women, who had suffered multiple miscarriages, resulted in three quarters of them successfully giving birth.

The steroid treatment has been shown to reduce the level of natural killer cells in the uterus, and this is thought to increase the chances of an embryo going to full term.

Dr. Quenby says currently there is no treatment for the thousands of women around the world who are desperate because they keep miscarrying for no reason.

She says there is a massive and desperate need for a treatment and suggests that a third of miscarriages could be prevented.

Dr. Quenby, in partnership with the Miscarriage Association, is now looking for 40 women with high levels of natural killer cells and a history of miscarriages to take part in a trial.