Assessment of endometrial receptivity by transvaginal color Doppler and three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization procedures

The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of transvagin al color Doppler and three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography for th e assessment of endometrial receptivity. A total of 89 patients undergoing in vitro fertilization procedures were evaluated for endometrial thickness and volume, endometrial morphology, and subendometrial perfusion on the day of embryo transfer. Neither the volume nor the thickness of the endometriu m on the day of embryo transfer had a predictive value for conception durin g in vitro fertilization cycles (P > .05). Patients who became pregnant wer e characterized by a significantly lower resistance index, obtained from su bendometrial vessels by transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography (resista nce index = 0.53 +/- 0.04 versus 0.64 +/- 0.04, pregnant versus not pregnan t, respectively; P < .05), and a significantly higher flow index (13.2 <plu s/minus> 2.2 versus 11.9 +/- 2.4; P < .05), as measured by a three-dimensio nal power Doppler histogram. No difference was found in the predictive valu e of scoring systems analyzing endometrial thickness and volume, endometria l morphology. and subendometrial perfusion by color Doppler and three-dimen sional power Doppler ultrasonography. The high degree of endometrial perfus ion shown by color Doppler ultrasonography and on three-dimensional power D oppler histograms on the day of embryo transfer can indicate a more favorab le endometrial milieu for successful in vitro fertilization.