TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- A method that's 70 percent
accurate in determining whether a woman undergoing in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) will get pregnant has been developed by
Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.
They analyzed data from 665 IVF cycles performed at Stanford in
2005 to determine the association between IVF outcomes and 30
variables in patient characteristics, clinical diagnoses, treatment
protocol and embryo characteristics.
The Stanford team determined that four factors were most
important in determining a woman's chances of becoming pregnant:
total number of embryos; number of eight-cell embryos; percentage
of embryos that stopped dividing and would die; and the woman's
follicle-stimulating hormone level -- an estimate of ovarian
function.
When combined, these four factors were 70 percent accurate in
determining whether a current IVF cycle would result in a
pregnancy.
These variables may prove "critical in counseling patients,
improving treatment, and ultimately developing ... more customized
treatments," team leader Dr. Mylene Yao, an assistant professor of
obstetrics and gynecology, and colleagues wrote in an article
published in the July 2 issue of
PLoS One.
IVF is an expensive and emotionally challenging procedure, and
many couples would welcome information that would help them decide
whether they want to commit to an IVF cycle, Yao said.
"People make decisions based on probability. At that point, it's
really important to give a more accurate prediction," Yao said in a
prepared statement.
She noted more research on this new method is needed before it
can be adopted by doctors.
More information
The American Pregnancy Association has more about
IVF.
