Background:

Chromosomal abnormalities are present in 50 to 60 % of miscarriages and in 6 to 19 % of stillbirths. Although microarrays are preferred for studying chromosomal abnormalities, many hospitals cannot offer this methodology.

Objective:

To present the results of the cytogenetic analysis of 303 products of conception (POC), which included 184 miscarriages, 49 stillbirths and 17 cases of undefined age.

Material and methods:

Karyotyping, fluorescence in situ hybridization, short tandem repeats and microarrays were used, depending on the type of loss and available sample.

Results:

In 29 POCs we found maternal tissue and were eliminated from the analyses. Informative results were obtained in 250 (91.2 %)/274 cases; the karyotyping success rate was 80.7 %; that of single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays, 94.5 %; and that of fluorescence in situ hybridization and short tandem repeat, 100 %. Cytogenetic abnormalities were observed in 57.6 % of miscarriages and in 24.5 % of stillbirths; 94 % of total anomalies were numerical and 6 % were submicroscopic.

Conclusions:

Karyotyping with simultaneous short tandem repeat study to rule out contamination of maternal cells is effective for studying miscarriages; in stillbirths, microarrays are recommended.