title: How useful is cervical dilatation in patients with cervical stenosis who are participating in an in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer program? The Bourn Hall experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the place of cervical dilatation performed at the initial visit in an IVF-ET cycle in patients with known cervical stenosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A tertiary care assisted conception unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-seven patients who failed to conceive after a previous ET attempt and in whom the ET was classified as "difficult."
  
  
  METHODS
  Cervical dilatation under general anesthesia after pituitary suppression and before gonadotropin stimulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ease of the ET procedure and clinical pregnancy rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen (31.6%) of 57 women who failed to conceive after a previous attempt at IVF-ET achieved a clinical pregnancy after cervical dilatation. In 40 patients (70.2%), the subsequent ET was classified as "easy," whereas in the other 17 (29.8%), it remained difficult. The pregnancy rate was significantly higher when the ET was easy than when it was difficult (40% versus 11.8%, P<.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients with cervical stenosis and a previous difficult ET, cervical dilatation during the initial visit leads to an easier subsequent ET and improves the pregnancy rate.
authors.affiliation: The Assisted Conception Unit, Bourn Hall Clinic, Bourn, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abusheikha
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lass
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Akagbosu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brinsden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007747:Labor Stage, First; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D019233:Retreatment; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000628:therapy*