Tuesday 19 April 2005
Endometrial fluid warning for tubal factor, but not PCOS, patients
Source: Human Reproduction 2005; 20: 906-9
Investigating whether the presence of endometrial fluid predicts a poor IVF outcome in patients with tubal factor infertility or polycystic ovary syndrome.
Ultrasound detection of endometrial fluid during ovarian stimulation for IVF is an adverse prognostic factor in tubal factor, but not polycystic ovary syndrome
(PCOS), patients, claim Turkish researchers.
Mehmet Akman (Bahceci Women's Health Care Center, Istanbul) and colleagues set out to evaluate the impact of the presence of endometrial fluid during ovarian stimulation on the outcome of IVF cycles in tubal and PCOS cases.
They retrospectively reviewed the charts of all PCOS and tubal factor patients who they treated over a 1-year period, comparing implantation and pregnancy rates between those in whom fluid was detected and those who showed no such accumulation.
Patients with tubal factor infertility who were found to have endometrial fluid during stimulation achieved lower implantation rates than those in whom no fluid was detected, at 6.12 percent versus 21.4 percent. In contrast, no significant differences in pregnancy or implantation rates were detected between PCOS patients with or without endometrial fluid.
Akman et al say embryo transfer can be performed in PCOS patients with endometrial fluid, as long as the fluid has disappeared by the day of embryo transfer, but recommend cycle cancellation or cryopreservation of all embryos when endometrial fluid is detected in tubal factor infertility patients.
Posted: 18 April 2005
http://www.obgynworld.com/international/news/2005/Week_16/Day_1/Endometrial_fluid_wa.asp