title: Follow up of infertile patients after failed ART cycles: a preliminary report from Iran and Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has become an established and increasingly successful form of treatment for infertility. However, significant numbers of cycles fail after embryo transfer (ET) and it becomes necessary to follow up the infertile couples after failed ART treatments. The main goal was to follow up the infertile patients after failed IVF/ICSI+ET treatments in Iran and Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  198 infertile couples from Iran and 355 infertile couples from Turkey were followed up after IVF/ICSI failures. The patients' demographic data, the couples' decisions about continuation of treatment and the spontaneous pregnancy rates were compared in the two countries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The drop-out rate was higher in Iran (28.3%) than in Turkey (23.4%). The reasons for treatment discontinuation in Iran and Turkey were: financial problem (33.9% vs. 41%), hopeless (10.7% vs. 22.9%), fear of drug side-effects (7.1% vs. 12%), achieving pregnancy (37.5% vs. 19.6%), child adoption (5.4% vs. 2.4%), lack of spouse cooperation (5.4% vs. 2.4%), and divorce (0% vs. 2.4%). Spontaneous pregnancy was significantly higher in Iran (10.1%) than in Turkey (3.9%). There was correlation between duration of infertility and female factor infertility with spontaneous pregnancy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since the majority of couples that discontinued treatment had financial problems, it is essential for health professionals to support infertile couples during their childlessness crisis.
authors.affiliation: Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. khalili59@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khalili
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kahraman
authors.forename: Mete Gurol
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ugur
authors.forename: Azam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agha-Rahimi
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tabibnejad
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D000328:Adult; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000628:therapy; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000191:economics; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology