ASPIRIN IMPROVES UTERINE BLOOD-FLOW IN THE PERIIMPLANTATION PERIOD

A prospective clinical study at the Infertility Clinic of National Che ng Kung University Hospital investigated the effect of aspirin on infe rtile women with impaired uterine perfusion. A total of 127 women with unexplained infertility or repeated failure with various assisted-con ception techniques were enrolled. Uterine perfusion Key words: was ass essed by Doppler ultrasound and classified as normal or impaired (puls atility) index < 3.0 or greater than or equal to 3.0, respectively). O ne-third (43/127) of the women were found to have impaired uterine per fusion during their menstrual cycles. Those with uterine perfusion imp aired uterine blood flow were given aspirin (100 mg/day) starting on d ay 3 of the next ovulatory cycle. Only 36 women completed both the scr eening and the aspirin-treated cycles. The pulsatility index was measu red in the natural and aspirin-treated cycles in the same group of wom en and compared using repeated measures analyses of variance. A signif icant improvement in the uterine blood perfusion (p<0.05) was detected on the day leutinizing hormone peaked and in the midluteal phase (per i-implantation period) of aspirin-treated cycles. Thus, the use of low -dose aspirin may improve uterine perfusion in women with unexplained infertility and impaired uterine blood flow.