More than 7,000 pregnant women could be saved from the heartache of a miscarriage by taking the hormone drug progesterone
The recommendation has been made by the National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) and will now be available to women at most risk of suffering a pregnancy loss.
The move has been welcomed by baby loss charities, including Tommy’s.
Professor Gillian Leng, chief executive of NICE, said: “It is devastating for a woman to experience a miscarriage, so we are pleased to recommend progesterone for those women who experience bleeding in early pregnancy and who have had at least one miscarriage as a new treatment option.
“The research evidence is clear that progesterone will not be able to stop every miscarriage, and therefore our committee has called for more research to be carried out in this area. However, it will be of benefit to some women and an inexpensive treatment option can be available to women on the NHS from today.
“There was no evidence of harm to the mother or baby from the use of progesterone, although the evidence is insufficient to rule out the possibility of rare events.”
The institute said it estimates that about 7,200 women with a prior miscarriage and early bleeding in pregnancy could be eligible for the new treatment.
Jane Brewin, the chief executive of pregnancy and baby loss charity, Tommy’s, said she was pleased that the charity’s research was being taken on board.
She said: “It’s great to see NICE taking our progesterone on board in their new guidelines, which will help save babies’ lives and spare parents heartache. Miscarriage is often dismissed as ‘one of those things’ we can’t do anything about – even by some healthcare professionals, who may not specialise in this area to know the latest evidence.
“We hear from women who were denied progesterone treatment when they should have been eligible, simply because their doctor was not familiar with it. We hope that NICE’s recommendation will help end some of these inequalities in miscarriage care that add more pain to an already unbearable experience.”
IVFbabble’s co founder Tracey Bambrough experienced 5 miscarriages until she was administered progesterone on her last IVF, despite a couple of scary moments in the first 12 weeks, her progesterone was increased and went on to have twin girls.
Could this new treatment option help you? We’d love to hear your comments, email mystory@ivfbabble.com.
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