[Diagnosis in patients with habitual abortion]

Since promising immunological concepts for treatment of patients with three or more miscarriages have been introduced, an exact clarification of all possible etiological factors has become even more urgent, because an infection risk associated with leucocyte therapy cannot be ruled out. Own experiences with 47 couples with a history of habitual abortion who had been diagnostically evaluated in a special screening program in our hospital between 1985-1988 are discussed in the light of surveys of the recent literature. A critical revision of several factors which had been classified as etiological factors of habitual abortion in the past, seems important. While genetic factors are undoubtedly the most important cause of miscarriages in the first trimenon, the role of anatomical uterine anomalies (amongst our patients in 7 per cent), luteal insufficiency (among our patients in 9 per cent) and endometriosis cannot be evaluated with certainty yet because different diagnostic criteria have been established for diagnosis in the literature. Based on newly published data immunological factors seem to become etiologically more important; other anomalies, like infections or diabetes do not seem to be associated with an increased risk for habitual abortion. According to our experiences, habitual abortion may present as a problem involving different pathogenetic factors (among our patients in 79 per cent) so that sequential therapeutic steps may be required for treatment of a-possibly-multifactorial disease.