Outcome Of Fresh In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Cycles At The Lagos University Teaching Hospital: A Retrospective Review Of Initial Results

Abstract

Background: Infertility affects 10-15% of couples worldwide. In vitro fertilization (IVF) has become the recommended treatment for many couples with infertility. IVF was recently re-introduced at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Nigeria.
Objectives: This review was to present a preliminary report on the outcome of fresh IVF cycles at the new IVF centre in LUTH, Nigeria.
Methodology: This is a retrospective review of 24 consecutive fresh IVF cycles initiated from January 2016 to April 2017. The women had stimulated IVF cycles using a longagonist protocol. Following fertilization and embryo culture, fresh viable embryos were transferred on the third or fifth day after oocyte retrieval. Clinical and ongoing pregnancy rates were the main outcome measures. Data entry and analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0
Results: Twenty (83.3%) of the 24 initiated cycles had oocyte retrieval, while 4 (16.7%) cycles were cancelled. Of the 20 oocyte retrieval cycles, 18 fresh-embryo transfer cycles were performed. The embryo transfer rate was 75.0% (18/24) per initiated cycle and 90.0%
(18/20) per oocyte retrieval cycle. Eight women had clinical pregnancies making the clinical pregnancy rate 44.4% (8/18) per embryo transfer cycle and 33.3% (8/24) per initiated cycle. Two (25%) of the 8 clinical pregnancies resulted in first-trimester spontaneous miscarriages. The ongoing pregnancy rate was 33.3% (6/18) per embryo transfer cycle and 25.0% (6/24) per initiated cycle. The six women with ongoing pregnancies all had live births.
Conclusion: Our clinical pregnancy and ongoing pregnancy rates are comparable to results from other established IVF centres worldwide.

Keywords: Infertility, In vitro fertilization (IVF), fresh-embryo transfer, assisted reproductive technology, Nigeria.