ABSTRACT
Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) can be devastating to families involved. The chapter focuses on the evidence supporting or refuting various proposed etiologies for RPL and their respective evidence-based management strategies. Still, the single most common aneuploidy found in first-trimester pregnancy loss specimens is 45 X,0. Alloimmune disorders are purported to cause pregnancy loss via an abnormal cell-mediated maternal immune response to placental or fetal antigens. The presence of polycystic ovaries itself did not predict worse outcomes than the finding of normal ovaries, although among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, those who suffer pregnancy loss tend to have higher levels of circulating androgens than those who have successful pregnancies. Excessive caffeine intake has an established link to an increase in the risk of isolated spontaneous pregnancy loss of fetuses with normal karyotypes among nonsmokers. The disorder itself is multifactorial and the baseline rate of isolated pregnancy losses secondary to spontaneous fetal aneuploidy is high.
