The role of hysteroscopy in patients having failed IVF/GIFT transfer cycles

Fifty patients who had undergone 2 or more failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryo transfer (ET) cycles or failed GIFT cycles where fertilization had been demonstrated, underwent hysteroscopy; 28% were found to have intrauterine abnormalities which may have been responsible for the failure of the IVF-ET or GIFT. Patients with an abnormality found at hysteroscopy had undergone a significantly higher mean number of transfer cycles. These results suggest that intrauterine abnormalities may be a cause for failure of IVF-ET or GIFT and therefore hysteroscopy should be part of the infertility work-up of all patients prior to undergoing IVF treatment.