Elsevier

Fertility and Sterility

Volume 78, Issue 3, September 2002, Pages 550-556
Fertility and Sterility

In vitro fertilization
Spontaneous pregnancies in couples who discontinued intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment: a 5-year follow-up study

Presented at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine Meeting, Orlando, Florida, October 20–25, 2001.
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Abstract

Objective: To analyze the occurrence of deliveries after spontaneous conception in patients who have discontinued unsuccessful intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.

Design: Cohort follow-up study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Patient(s): Between July 1992 and December 1993, 200 Belgian women younger than 37 years underwent 433 consecutive unsuccessful ICSI cycles with freshly ejaculated sperm and eventually discontinued their treatment.

Intervention(s): Ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval and ICSI.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Delivery after 25 weeks following a spontaneous pregnancy.

Result(s): The mean age at the time of the last oocyte pick-up was 31.0 ± 3.9 years. The mean time interval between the last ICSI and the end of the follow-up period was 47.7 ± 12.1 months. Twenty-three spontaneous pregnancies ending in delivery after 25 weeks were observed (11.5%). The cumulative delivery rate reached a plateau of 10% after 36 months of follow-up. The mean time interval (from last oocyte retrieval) for spontaneous pregnancy to occur after discontinuing ICSI treatment was 20.2 ± 13.7 months. Proportional hazards analysis showed that delivery rate was reduced by 2.0% per year of infertility.

Conclusion(s): This study suggests that duration of infertility appears to be predictive of the likelihood of live delivery after spontaneous conception following an unsuccessful ICSI treatment.

Keywords

Spontaneous pregnancy
ICSI
duration of infertility
infertility prognosis
sperm parameters

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This work was supported by grants from the Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders.