Objective: To assess hysteroscopic findings in patients undergoing IVF-ET who repeatedly failed to conceive despite transfer of good-quality embryos.
Design: Prospective, observational study.
Setting: Clinical research unit for reproductive medicine in a private clinic.
Patient(s): Fifty-five patients with a normal uterine cavity on hysterosalpingography before the initial IVF-ET cycle and two previous failed IVF-ET attempts despite transfer of a minimum of two good-quality embryos on each occasion.
Intervention(s): Standard transvaginal ultrasonography and diagnostic and therapeutic hysteroscopy.
Main outcome measure(s): Endometrial findings on transvaginal ultrasonography and hysteroscopy and outcome of the cycles after surgical hysteroscopy and antibiotic therapy.
Result(s): Twenty-five (45%) patients had abnormal endometrial findings and underwent treatment to correct the lesions. All patients underwent a third IVF-ET cycle. Pregnancy (50% vs. 20%) and implantation (19% vs. 5.5%) rates were significantly higher in patients who were treated for uterine abnormalities than in patients who had normal uterine cavities on hysteroscopy.
Conclusion(s): The incidence of pathologic findings on hysteroscopy is high in patients with repeated failures of IVF-ET. Evaluation of endometrial integrity by hysteroscopy is highly valuable and should be applied to all such cases.