Study Reveals New Test To Predict Risk Of Miscarriage In As Early As Four Weeks Into A Pregnancy

A new test has been developed that could predict the risk of miscarriage in as early as four weeks into a pregnancy.

While a miscarriage can’t be prevented, researchers from the University of Heidelberg in Germany said that an early screening test may help determine if a pregnant woman will lose her baby.

In a study that is first of its kind, researchers discovered that measuring the levels of a type of protein called periostin, which plays a key role in implantation and early embryonic development, in a woman’s body in as early as four weeks can indicate whether she will keep or lose her baby.

“A miscarriage means an enormous distress for the patient and a predictive test with a negative result could be used to reassure anxious patients.

“On the other hand, a predictive test with a positive result can warn the patients in a very early stage of pregnancy, and will prohibit unnecessary prolongation of the current pregnancy,” the study’s authors wrote in the journal, Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.

The study analysed 41 healthy pregnant women between the age of 18 and 42 who had conceived via IVF treatment or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Serum samples were taken at the time of pregnancy testing and the following first ultrasound checkup after around 10 days.

Although the team found no significant difference in PER levels at the time of pregnancy testing or PT or ultrasound, the time between four and six weeks of gestation showed that patients who went on to have a miscarriage had ‘significant’ higher levels of PER compared to those who went full term.

The team concluded that PER levels are ‘a potential promising biomarker for pregnancy outcome assessment.’

Dr Hana Visnova, medical director of IVF Cube in Prague, Czech Republic, said that early prediction test would be beneficial. “Miscarriages are far more common that people are sometimes willing to admit, so a research into why they happen and how to prevent them is absolutely vital.

“Now, there are growing links between protein and the likelihood of a miscarriage, and periostin can be a vital marker, especially in women who have undergone IVF.

“The hormone is likened with the changing number of cells in the body, and its levels can spike during injury or inflammation.

“It doesn’t have the ability to completely prevent a miscarriage, but monitoring it could put women at ease, knowing if they may be at an increased risk as soon as four weeks after getting pregnant,” she said.

NHS Choices figures show that among women who know they’re pregnant, it’s estimated that one in six will end in miscarriage, while more miscarriages happen before a woman is even aware she has become pregnant.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk