CERVICAL DILATATION DURING OVUM PICK-UP IN PATIENTS WITH CERVICAL STENOSIS - EFFECT ON PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN AN IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION-EMBRYO TRANSFER PROGRAM

Objective: To evaluate the results of cervical dilatation during an ov um pick-up session in patients with cervical stenosis who participated in an IVF-ET program. Design: A retrospective study. Setting: In vitr o fertilization-ET unit. Patient(s): Forty-one treatment cycles in 22 patients with known cervical stenosis. In all patients previous transc ervical ET had been either extremely difficult or impossible. Interven tion(s): Cervical dilatation under general anesthesia during an ovum p ick-up session, 48 hours before transcervical ET. Main Outcome Measure (s): Ease of ET procedure and clinical pregnancy rate (PR). Result(s): Cervical dilatation was performed in 41 IVF-ET cycles and resulted in easier transcervical ET in 39 cycles, but only one clinical and one e xtrauterine pregnancy. Conclusion(s): Cervical dilatation during the o vum pick-up session leads to easier ET in patients with cervical steno sis, but PRs after this procedure are very low. (C) 1997 by American S ociety for Reproductive Medicine.