Early and midluteal phase blood estradiol levels after ovum pickup and pregnancy rates after ICSI cycles.

Objective: To examine whether blood estradiol level tendencies during the late follicular and early luteal phases and the 11 days after embryo transfer have any association with the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (ICSI-ET) cycles.

Study Design: This prospective study involved 38 assisted reproductive technology cycles in 35 infertile patients treated with assisted reproductive technologies in which blood samples taken on the 4th, 7th, 9th and 11th days following ET were tested for progesterone, estradiol and hCG levels using an enzyme-linked immunoassay. The estradiol blood levels were compared with the maximal follicular phase blood estradiol.