The pregnancy rate for patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is improved when doctors use advanced 3D/4D imaging to guide the placement of embryos to the point where the endometrium is most receptive to implantation, according to a study presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
Placing embryos in the optimal location within the uterus is a key factor determining the success of in-vitro fertilization. The study's lead author, Robert Gergely, M.D., has identified a new embryo placement target as the point where the fallopian tubes would intersect if they were extended beyond their natural length.
This imaginary intersection, which has been dubbed the Maximal Implantation Potential (MIP) Point, is where embryos typically implant and develop in natural pregnancies. Precision in embryo placement has become especially critical in recent years given the trend to limit the number of embryos transferred during in-vitro fertilization to just a single embryo in order to reduce the likelihood of multiple births.
The study, titled "Maximal Implantation Potential (MIP) Point - Suggested Target for Optimal Embryo Placement Within the Uterine Cavity During Embryo Transfer" (ASRM: P-665), was led by Dr. Gergely, who serves as medical director of the 3D Sonography Center of Beverly Hills (Beverly Hills, Calif.), and was formerly acting director of obstetrics at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The six-year retrospective, observational study evaluated 5,073 patients with a mean age of 38.3 years who received in-vitro fertilization using 3D/4D-guided embryo transfer at the Southern California Reproductive Center (Beverly Hills, Calif.). In each case, embryo placement was targeted to the new Maximal Implantation Potential (MIP) Point.
The patients achieved an overall pregnancy rate of 40.34 percent, which is 10.04 percent higher than the rate achieved at the Center prior to Dr. Gergely's introduction of the 3D/4D-guided MIP Point technique in 2001. Earlier study results based on 1,222 patients were published in the August 2005 issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility (Vol. 84, No. 2).
The study included in-vitro fertilization patients from UCLA Medical Center, Cedars Sinai Medical Center and independent fertility specialists in the Los Angeles area. A total of 21 physicians employed Dr. Gergely's technique. Once introduced, the MIP Point was accepted over time as the optimal target for embryo placement by all of the physicians, and the 3D/4D-guided embryo transfer technique was adopted as the standard operating procedure for all embryo transfers.