New Study Restores Hope To Women Who Have Suffered A Miscarriage

A new study gives new hope to women who've suffered the heartbreak of a miscarriage.

Researchers say a blood test could reveal what went wrong.

Six-month-old Arthur is a miracle to his mother, Rikke Hemmingsen, who suffered three miscarriages. “When you see those two little lines on that little test, then you start dreaming, you start planning your family and you start to imagine how is this baby,” says Hemmingsen.

Researchers in Denmark say an early blood test may unravel the secrets of pregnancy loss. They found taking a blood sample from the mother, as early as the fifth week of pregnancy, can determine whether the fetus had a chromosome abnormality. “We can actually use the same test that is used in ongoing pregnancies, but not used until week 10,” says Henriette Svarre Nielsen, professor of gynecology at the University of Copenhagen.

Nielsen and her team have been doing blood tests on women who’ve visited the emergency room for a miscarriage. “Then now we can start to ask the question: is it this? Is it this? Is it this?” she says.

The ongoing study called ‘Copenhagen Pregnancy Loss’ has tested more than 1,700 women, and aims to reveal the underlying cause and offer possible preventative treatments for the future. “That project gives me hope that fewer women have to go through what we went through,” says Hemmingsen.

Researchers believe their findings may ultimately help prevent 5% of the 30-million miscarriages women worldwide go through every year.

It's estimated one in ten women worldwide will experience a miscarriage in their lifetime, with the number even higher in countries where pregnancies occur later in life. The research is published in the British medical journal, The Lancet.