Repeated Failure

In some families, no results can be obtained from repeated IVF treatments. In other families, intrauterine deaths or miscarriages are common despite spontaneous pregnancies. In recent years it has been believed that these families have immunological problems and that this condition prevents the uterus from accepting the baby.

Repeated Failures in IVF Treatment

As is known, the white cells in the blood are the defense cells of the body and protect us from diseases and foreign cells. They first notice a bacterium or virus that enters the body, then try to neutralize it. At the same time, they activate memory cells (a group of lymphocytes). If the body has encountered this stranger before, it will remember how to fight and begins to produce some secretions (antibodies) for it. At the same time, another group of white cells surround this stranger and tries to destroy it by eating.

If this is the first time a stranger is encountered, there is no appropriate information in the memory. In such a case, the white cells first mobilize to break down this stranger to digest it. Then, they inform the memory cells about the structure of the bacteria, virus or tissue, and record which secretions are required to fight, if they again encounter them in the future.

The embryo should pass over the body defense system and engrave the inside of the uterus with the help of some secretions it produces and nest here to be able to implant on the uterus. Yet the embryo is also a stranger to the mother.

Half of its structure comes from the father. Because of that, first it should be noticed and then a protective shield should be created between the baby and the white cells. If this shield (which is also a kind of secretion) is not established, the embryo is subjected to the influence of aggressive-type white cells. Some of them are lost at the beginning of embryonic implantation (the pregnancy test is first positive, and then turns into negative). Some of them result in death or miscarriage especially in the first 3 months. Some babies continue to survive despite all these negativities, but because they are in constant fight, the growth and development retardation occurs.

As can be understood from the information given, for a healthy pregnancy, the embryo should first be noticed like any stranger entering the body, and then an appropriate shield should be created for it. If embryo is not noticed, a protective shield cannot be created.

In problematic cases, treatment options are planned accordingly. For example, lymphocyte vaccine makes it easier for mother’s white cells to notice the baby. Aspirin both support the bloodflow by thinning the blood and reduces the inflammation of the white cells (desire to attack and gather somewhere). This effect of blood thinner injections is stronger. Cortisone and derivative drugs suppress the white cells. If there is a total white cell alarm due to infection, combined antibiotic therapy is used. Immunoglobulin serum can be used in cases where the proportion of non-malignant and malignant white blood cells is impaired.

Another type of immunological infertility is the cases where the body begins to fight itself by producing secretion against itself. Rheumatic diseases, ANA (+) positivity, production of secretion against thyroid are included in this group of reasons. The secretion (antibody) produced in these women may not yet be effective enough to cause disease. In other words, even if these secretions are found in the measurements studied with blood, there may not be any disease finding. But even this secretion of a small amount makes it difficult for the embryo to live and implant, leading to infertility.