Early pregnancy failure: a review

The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology’s Special Interest Group Early Pregnancy recently published a revised terminology for the description of early pregnancy events as well as evidence-based guidelines for the investigation and medical treatment for patients with recurrent miscarriage (RM). This review, designed for clinicians working in the field of human reproduction, starts with the updated glossary of terms essential for an accurate assessment and documentation of clinical events. The revised terminology is summarized in this article. Many terms used in early pregnancy were old and had persisted before or since the introduction of ultrasound. Based on the data of recently published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analysis, recommendations are provided for basic investigations of couples presenting with RM and for proposed therapies. The recommendations are likewise summarized in this article. A large number of therapies mentioned in the literature require more investigations under strict RCT conditions, whilst others are of no proven benefit or are associated with more harm than good.