IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION IN COMPLETELY NATURAL CYCLES

Our objective was to assess the efficacy of in-vitro fertilization (IV F) in natural ovarian cycles in couples with tubal and unexplained inf ertility, A prospective study design was used, A total of 39 fully inv estigated couples, who were patients at the Reproductive Medicine Unit , St Michael's Hospital, Bristol, UK, took part; they were diagnosed w ith either tubal disease(n = 26) or unexplained infertility (n 13), Pr ocedures involved daily capillary blood sampling, daily vaginal ultras onography and vaginal oocyte recovery under sedation at mid-cycle, The main outcome measures were fertilization, implantation and pregnancy rates, Although more of the women with tubal disease were parous, ther e were no other significant differences between the two groups, The 39 couples with infertility of tubal or unexplained aetiology had 79 cyc les of IVF in otherwise completely natural cycles, The overall fertili zation rate was 80% and the implantation rate was 14.0%, A trend was o bserved for higher success rates in women with tubal disease, We concl ude that natural cycle IVF and embryo transfer offers an acceptable ch ance of pregnancy and an opportunity for the in-depth investigation of follicular and ovarian function in couples with defined causes of inf ertility, The possibly lower success rate in women with unexplained in fertility warrants further study of follicular function and endocrinol ogy.