The multicenter clinical trial, which began last year, is a five-year study funded by a .25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. An estimated 15-20 percent of all pregnancies result in miscarriage.
Recurrent miscarriage is defined as three consecutive fetal losses.
The University of Chicago's recurrent miscarriage study is a double blind investigation that will evaluate two of the more successful treatment modalities for this condition. All couples will receive increased medical and psychological support for the first trimester in the form of weekly physician visits and ultrasounds. Women in the study will also be randomly selected to be immunized with either their husband's lymphocytes or a placebo. This is to evaluate the merits of immunotherapy, a costly but popular treatment which reports success rates as high as 70-80 percent. Women who miscarry while participating in the study or who do not become pregnant within twelve months will be offered immunization with their husband's lymphocytes.