Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a devastating problem for married couples trying to establish a family, and this problem often presents a perplexing and frustrating challenge for clinicians. RPL is usually defined as three or more consecutive pregnancy losses before a gestational age of 20 weeks; however, this condition has recently been redefined by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) as two or more consecutive pregnancy losses.
In addition, no significant differences in the diagnostic factors between two and three or more consecutive pregnancy losses exist. RPL is estimated to occur in 2%–4% of reproductive-age couples, and the known etiologic factors of RPL include parental chromosome abnormalities, uterine abnormalities, hereditary thrombophilia, endocrinology disorders, immunologic factors, and infections as well as nutritional and environmental factors.
