OOCYTE DONATION IN WOMEN WITH RECURRENT LOSS

The prognosis of couples with recurrent miscarriage is controversial d espite efforts made during this century to learn about the physiopatho logy and treatment of this troublesome condition. Here we present our experiences of employing oocyte donation in eight couples in whom the woman was a low responder to gonadotrophin stimulation and had a previ ous history of recurrent abort ion with negative routine infertility w ork-up for repeated pregnancy loss, Patients were desensitized with go nadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues and supplemented with oestradi ol valerate for a minimum of 15 days until oocytes were donated from i n-vitro fertilization and fertile donors, Then, progesterone was added until day 100 of pregnancy, A total of 12 oocyte donation cycles were performed in these patients, Clinical pregnancy and delivery rates pe r cycle were 75.0 and 66.6% respectively. The delivery rate per patien t was 85.7% in this series, and the miscarriage rate per cycle was 11. 1%. The results of ovum donation compared favourably with low responde rs without a history of recurrent abortion undergoing this treatment d uring the study period, These results strongly suggest that the oocyte may be the origin of infertility in women with idiopathic recurrent m iscarriages. In addition, the results question the role of maternal lo cal and systemic factors in early recurrent pregnancy loss, as well as the paternal contribution to its aetiology.