Chapter 50: Pregnancy Following Failed ART

Hilgers TW; Boyle PC

Infertility · Evaluation

Chapter 50: Pregnancy Following Failed ART

Hilgers TW, Boyle PC

The Medical and Surgical Practice of NaProTECHNOLOGY, 667-676, 2004

RRM Academy Synopsis

NaProTECHNOLOGY testing left 95 couples with no unexplained cause

Among 95 couples who conceived with NaProTECHNOLOGY after failed IVF, testing left none with unexplained infertility. This 2004 textbook chapter reports a case series from one Galway family practice. In these couples, more earlier IVF attempts were linked to fewer live births.

Key Findings

The group had 95 couples and 123 conceptions. The average woman was 36.8 years old, and couples had tried for 6.1 years on average.
Before NaProTECHNOLOGY, 55 of the 95 couples (58%) had been told they had unexplained infertility. Afterward none had that label. New diagnoses included low progesterone, low estradiol and unfavorable mucus.
Most conceptions ended in a live birth. The authors report that miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy was more than twice as likely in women aged 38 and older.
In these couples, more earlier IVF attempts were associated with fewer live births. The authors say the pattern did not appear related to the woman's age.

RRM Context

Timed hormone testing and cycle charting gave many couples in this series specific diagnoses after conventional evaluation had found none. Unexplained infertility means the cause has not yet been found. IVF bypasses the reproductive system and leaves any such cause in place. NaProTECHNOLOGY looks for the cause and treats it.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

This chapter reports on couples with previously unsuccessful ART who conceived with NPT treatment in a family physician's practice in Galway, Ireland, between February 2, 1998 and February 1, 2004. The 95 couples conceived 123 times, resulting in 89 successful pregnancies from 74 couples. A life-table analysis of the first four years gave an adjusted proportion achieving pregnancy of 26.2 percent at 12 to 17 months, rising to 32.6 percent for 18 to 25 months in the program. None of the couples carried a diagnosis of unexplained infertility after NPT evaluation, and the authors attribute the change to timed hormone tests and charting that identified low progesterone, low estradiol and unfavorable mucus.

Topics

Infertility › Evaluation › Unexplained Infertility · Restorative Reproductive Medicine › NaProTechnology › Cumulative Pregnancy Rates

Phil C Boyle, Thomas W Hilgers

Philip Boyle, Phillip Boyle, P Boyle, Tom Hilgers, T Hilgers

Hilgers et al. 2004, Hilgers 2004

Chapter 50: Pregnancy Following Failed ART

NaProTECHNOLOGY testing left 95 couples with no unexplained cause

Key Findings

RRM Context

Abstract

Topics

By this author

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