Chicago immune tests

[Orla9298]

Has anyone had these? Looking to hear about experience and how your clinic dealt with any issues, and any success stories!xx

[vic77]

sorry hun..never heard of them but they do sound a bit more exotic and less painful than some other tests/procedures 😂hope u doing so well as you can be xxxx

[gattonero]

I’m curious, what is it?

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

The testing I had done was sent to Chicago, though not called Chicago testing. Ours was called level one and level two tests by our clinic. Cost £3000 and took 16 vials of blood from me and just two from hubbie. It found a serious problem with my husband and that gave us answers having previously been unexplained. We were able to change our approach and got pregnant on our next round of ivf (but there was still a lot of luck involved with that). They also suggested I might need intrallipids but we didn’t do that and the pregnancy still stuck. Clinic were very proactive in helping us once we got our (pretty devastating) results back.

[Orla9298 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

Thank you, I think I’ve already had the level 1 tests done at the recurring miscarriage clinic (nhs) but I never got copies of the results. I’m really suspicious that something is amiss... I think we are definitely going to do it xx

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Orla9298]

You should be able to get hold of your results from the nhs clinic (they’re required to give you copies of your notes) for a small charge. I would recommend taking them to your ivf clinic so they don’t repeat tests unnecessarily- it’s a lot of money to spend!

[Orla9298 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

I know! Last time i asked for copies of my file though they said it was a 40 working day wait! Crazy hey??? I’ve emailed a different consultants secretary as my consultants secretary ignores all calls and messages. Maybe my ivf clinic can email them to request them.

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Orla9298]

See if you can contact the medical records department of your hospital rather than the consultant. That’s what I did when I needed records and there was clear info on the hospital website about the process. I think they said it could take 40 days(maybe that’s the legal max?) but it didn’t.

[Cinderella5]

Hi Orla, I had all of these done although my clinic didnt call it this. I presume you mean Natural Killer (NK) Cell Cytoxicity Assay And Immunophenotype - such as TH1:TH2 Cytokine Ratio, Leukocyte Antibody Detection (LAD), HLA-DQ Alpha Testing, Tests For Inherited Thrombophilia: Factor II & V and MTHFR Gene Mutation etc? My clinic found a couple of wee things but nothing major and we ended up doing intralipids, clexane for clotting issue and high dose folic acid/vit B for MTHFR, but still havent had success as you know. I was glad that we did all this though as it gave us peace of mind even although it was minor things that were found.xx

[Orla9298 in reply to Cinderella5]

Yes that sounds exactly what they are. I’m pretty definitely going to get them done just to help put my mind at rest that I’ve done what I can before any further transfers xx

[Cinderella5 in reply to Orla9298]

Yeah we had the level 1 & level 2 done, the job lot! Well that's how we felt, at least we know we have tried everything....none of it is working but if we get to the end with nothing then there's no regrets!!xxx

[Wishingfortheday]

I had Level 1 & 2 Chicago tests through my clinic a few months ago (my understanding is that level 1 tests cover underlying medical issues, level 2 tests are for autoimmune problems). The tests are expensive, but if it reveals a problem that can be solved it is worth it. My results showed I have PAI-1 Polymorphism (blood clotting disorder), and so I will need to take clexane next transfer. I've had 6 miscarriages to date so it will be interesting to see if this works, fingers crossed xx

[Orla9298 in reply to Wishingfortheday]

Ahhh ok, I think my nhs clinic might have done the level one stuff, so I’m waiting for the nhs clinic to send he results to my ivf clinic so that we can see what they actually were!

I hope it helps now that you know more info xx