How common is real repeated implantation failure? An indirect estimate of the prevalence.

Research Question: What is the real prevalence of repeated implantation failure (RIF) and what reliable estimates can be given on the risk of false-positive diagnosis after two or three failed IVF attempts.

Design: A recent theoretical model suggested that commonly used definitions (two or three failed IVF attempts in good-prognosis couples) may expose couples to substantial odds of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. This model, however, was theoretical and based on unproven assumptions that the pregnancy rate in the non-RIF population was 30% and the prevalence of RIF was 10%.

Frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer in natural cycle: feasibility in everyday clinical practice.

Purpose: Transfer of frozen-thawed embryos in natural cycle is gaining consensus but evidence on this approach is scanty. The aim of this study is reporting on the feasibility of this type of policy in everyday clinical practice.

Methods: We retrospectively selected all women undergoing the procedure between July 2013 and December 2014.

Asymptomatic adenomyosis and embryo implantation in IVF cycles.

Research on the effect of adenomyosis on the rate of success of IVF is controversial. Differences in study design, study power, criteria and instrument used to diagnose adenomyosis and choice of controls may explain these discrepancies. To establish whether embryo implantation is impaired in women with adenomyosis, women scheduled for IVF were prospectively evaluated for the presence of adenomyosis and whether this condition affected embryo implantation.

The rapid growth of fibroids during early pregnancy.

Several studies aimed to disentangle whether pregnancy influences the growth of uterine fibroids but results were inconsistent. In this study, we speculated that fibroid enlargement during pregnancy may not be linear and we hypothesized that this phenomenon may mainly occur during initial pregnancy. To test this hypothesis, we set up a prospective cohort study of women with fibroids undergoing IVF.

The vanishing endometrioma: the intriguing impact of pregnancy on small endometriotic ovarian cysts.

There is a general belief that pregnancy has a beneficial effect on endometriosis but evidence is scanty. Moreover, some recent warning reports documented progression-growth of ovarian endometriomas during pregnancy. To further elucidate this aspect, we set up a prospective cohort study.

Vitamin D status in women with uterine leiomyomas.

Context: Recent in vitro and in vivo experimental evidence supports a role of vitamin D insufficiency as an important factor in the development of uterine leiomyomas. However, epidemiological data supporting this possibility are scanty.

Objective: Our objective was to investigate vitamin D status in women with and without uterine leiomyomas.

IVF outcome in poor responders failing to produce viable embryos in the preceding cycle.

This study postulated that poor-responder women failing to obtain viable embryos would represent a subgroup of subjects with extremely poor prognosis. To elucidate this aspect, women in this condition over a 4-year period were retrospectively identified and their IVF outcomes in subsequent cycles were evaluated. A total of 108 women satisfied the selection criteria and underwent at least one further IVF cycle.