Cytogenetic analysis of spontaneous abortions with direct analysis of chorionic villi.

A total of 224 cases of spontaneous abortions were studied by analysing chromosomes directly from chorionic villi. Abnormal karyotypes were found in 51.3% of the investigated cases. Among the chromosome abnormalities the most frequent were the trisomies (55.7%), followed by polyploidy (23.5%), monosomy X (15.6%) and structural anomalies (5.2%). The rapid and relatively simple method is suitable for studying the causes of spontaneous abortions, and this information may be helpful also for genetic counselling.