Successful pregnancy after 24 consecutive fetal losses: lessons learned from surrogacy

Objective: To offer surrogacy as a treatment option to patients in whom maternal rather than fetal factors are responsible for high-order unexplained habitual abortions. Design: Case report. Setting: University hospital. Patient(s): A 36-year-old woman with 24 consecutive abortions over 11 years. Intervention(s): A regular NF procedure in the aborting woman and transfer of two good-quality embryos to the surrogate mother, who had previously received hormones. Main Outcome Measure(s): Ovarian response, oocytes, fertilization, and embryo quality in the aborting patient. Endometrial thickness, implantation, pregnancy, and delivery in the surrogate mother. Result(s): Transfer of two embryos to the surrogate mother led to a clinical pregnancy, which was uneventful until term. Cesarean section was performed for breech presentation, with delivery of a healthy male. Conclusion(s): Surrogacy can be offered as a treatment option to patients in whom maternal rather than fetal factors are responsible for high-order unexplained habitual abortions. (Fertil Steril(R) 2000;74:104-6. (C) 2000 hy American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)