Chromosome analysis of aborted conceptuses of recurrent aborters positive for anticardiolipin antibody

Objective: To elucidate the relationship between anticardiolipin antibody and recurrent abortion. Design: Prospective clinical study. Setting: Institutional practice in which patients with recurrent abortion were registered at the outpatient clinic for infertility of Niigata University Hospital. Patient(s): Five hundred sixty-one patients with recurrent abortions and 148 patients who were not recurrent aborters and who had experienced sporadic abortion. Intervention(s): Aborted conceptuses for chromosome analyses were collected from the patients. Main Outcome Measure(s): The positive rate of anticardiolipin antibody was assessed in patients with recurrent abortion. Chromosome analyses of aborted conceptuses were performed in 10 patients with positive anticardiolipin antibody who had experienced another pregnancy that resulted in repeated abortion. Similar analyses of aborted conceptuses from 148 sporadic early abortions (controls) were performed. Result(s): The incidence of chromosome abnormalities in anticardiolipin antibody-positive recurrent aborters was 20.0% (2 of 10 cases), which was significantly lower than that of patients with sporadic abortion (60.1%, 89 of 148 cases). Conclusion(s): The low incidence of chromosome abnormalities in aborted conceptuses of patients with positive anticardiolipin antibody suggests that this antibody is strongly implicated in the genesis of recurrent abortions. (C) 1997 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.