A blood test taken after a miscarriage suffered as early as week five can help explain why it occurred and in some cases lead to preventative treatments, a Danish-led study has found. Gynecologist, Henriette Svarre-Nielsen, of Hvidovre hospital near Copenhagen and her team of researchers recently published a study in British journal The Lancet showing that the tests can determine whether the foetus had a chromosome anomaly or whether they should look for another reason. "If a pregnancy is lost, we can, by a blood test on the mother, get to know the genetics of the fetus" says Nielsen. As part of an ongoing study, all women who have just suffered a miscarriage and visited Hvidovre hospital are offered the blood test. More than 75 percent of them have accepted so far. "I think that the project makes all the grief and all the sadness that every pregnancy loss is matter" says Rikke Hemmingsen, who has suffered miscarriages in the past. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES