In-vitro fertilisation treatment: Factors affecting its results and outcome

Summary

The objective of this study was to determine factors affecting results and outcome of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). In this retrospective study, a total of 891 infertile women underwent IVF/ICSI cycles at the King Hussein Medical Center (KHMC) between January 2001 and December 2002. Conventional IVF treatment was performed in 64.6% of women and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in 35.4%, using a standardised long luteal protocol. Pregnancy rate was analysed according to age, type of infertility, cause of infertility, duration of infertility, number of eggs collected and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels. A total of 126 cycles (14.1%) were cancelled. Among 765 cycles continued, fertilisation rate was 73.9%, implantation rate was 15.1% and pregnancy rate was 29.8%. Pregnant women had a multiple pregnancy rate of 28.9%, abortion rate of 13.6% and ectopic pregnancy rate of 1.3%. Duration and type of infertility had no significant effect on the pregnancy rate. Factors which appear to affect significantly the outcome of treatment include the woman's age, cause of infertility, basal concentrations of FSH, adequate ovarian responsiveness and the number of eggs collected. In some cases with poor outcome, the understanding of these factors may predict the results and lead to the development of new strategies to improve the outcome of IVF treatment.