Curing Chronic Endometritis Improves IVF Chances

Curing Chronic Endometritis Improves IVF Chances

When someone has one or especially more unexpected failed IVF cycles with high quality embryos, one of the conditions I have searched for is chronic endometritis. The diagnosis can be made with an endometrial biopsy and then needs to be treated with a long course of specific antibiotics. In my experience curing chronic endometritis has been a factor in making IVF cycles successful. Now there is a meta-analysis that shows the effectiveness of this approach.

In a meta-analysis of five studies of chronic endometritis (CE), women cured of the condition had significantly higher rates of pregnancies, live births, and successful implantation compared with women who had persistent CE. “These findings potentially suggest that CE is a reversible factor of infertility, whose recognition and therapy may provide better chances at subsequent [in vitro fertilization] attempts,” wrote Amerigo Vitagliano, MD, of the University of Padua (Italy), and his coauthors. They sought to examine the effect of CE treatment on implantation for women with recurrent implantation failure. While CE is correlated with infertility, prior studies have not resolved the question of whether curing CE would restore fertility. The condition is cured in as many of 80% of cases with a single cycle of antibiotics.

The authors recommend further research in the form of randomized controlled trials to confirm whether completed CE treatment will improve in vitro fertilization success, and whether routine CE screening is advisable for all patients with recurrent implantation failure. At present, they recommend that diagnosed cases of CE be resolved before continuing with fertility treatment.

“If our results are confirmed, CE may represent a new therapeutic target for women suffering from [recurrent implantation failure], with affordable access (diagnosed through a simple endometrial biopsy and treated by oral antibiotics),” they wrote.

If you experience recurrent implantation failure ask your doctor to evaluate you for CE and if it’s found to treat it and make sure it’s cured before another IVF attempt.