Natural killer cell testing

[Lou1103]

This follows on from another post where it was mentioned.

I wondered if anyone had had this done? I believe you have to have it privately but i am considering having it done (providing it's not too expensive) xxx

 

[Applecrumble]

Never heard about it....are you able to expand and share what you know on it? Thanks in advance

 

[Lou1103]

Not a lot really. Basically there are cells in your womb, and if they are higher than normal then they can stop the pregnancy properly implanting in the womb. It can be a cause for rmc xxx

 

[nicejuicypear]

I had my RMC follow up this week and they talked about this there. I'd already heard of it and only really knew it was expensive. My consultant went into detail about it and said that the blood test is quite unreliable, because we always have NK cells in us. They form the basis of our immune system and without them we wouldn't be able to fight off infections. So having the test by blood can be difficult to read because it's hard to say at what level they might be having an impact on fertility. Or even if elevated levels are affecting the uterus at all.

She said there's a newer way of testing, which involves taking a biopsy of the uterus lining and testing the levels in there instead. I don't know how commonly this is being carried out at private clinics but she seemed to think this was the way to go, if you're going to do the NK test at all.

She also said it's possible to give the NK treatments such as steroids empirically, so rather than testing , you'd just be given the drugs anyway, just in case. Some people prefer this, but I suppose you'd have to weigh up the cost of the test versus the cost of the drugs.

I'm not going for it yet, we can't justify the expense at this stage as I'm trying home insemination for a while. Perhaps if I was having a 'one last shot' at IVF, I'd go for NK testing/meds to give myself the best shot but for now I don't want to pay so much.

 

[Lou1103]

That's very interesting hun, thank you. I was thinking that the blood test would be cheaper but if it doesn't give good results there's no point.
Im in south wales and there's a clinic in cardiff that do the other method for £400 i think. Can't afford that at the mo but might look into it in future.
My local nhs hospital has a private part (funds get out back into the nhs) so might speak to my doctor about that. Not sure if it would be cheaper that way as well.

Xxx

 

[GEH]

Sorry, just saw your other post and replied. It is expensive - starting at 900 ish.

Complementary therapists like accupuncture and reflexology claim to be able to help reduce levels too, which is possibly quite likely as it can be to do with stress levels etc. Also and your body doing that fight or flight type response x

 

[Lou1103]

Ahhh very interesting! Might go for a massage cxx

 

[Cosmogirl7]

The dr has suggested to me this is what I have. She said my hormone levels are good, I'm having no probs getting pregnant, my uterus looks fine in scans but I'm having problems with implantation. She prescribed me steroids for this pregnancy but we decided not to take them as I hadn't even been tested and she didn't seem to know anything about the test. It's definitely something I'm going to follow up on this time xxx