Translocation mosaicism in a woman having multiple miscarriages.

We concluded cytogenetic studies on a couple who had had several spontaneous abortions. The peripheral lymphocytes of the woman repeatedly showed a mosaic pattern with a structurally altered, apparently balanced, autosomal translocation between chromosomes 4 and 5. Various studies were reviewed and it was concluded that the true frequency of structural rearranged mosaics in recurrent pregnancy loss is not known.