Treatment of patients with long-standing unexplained subfertility with in vitro fertilization

Objective: To evaluate whether IVF is an effective treatment for long-standing unexplained subfertility.Design: Retrospective cohort study.Setting: Tertiary care infertility center in a university hospital.Patient(s): Two hundred two couples with unexplained subfertility of 2 years’ duration or more who attended the center for their first IVF attempt.Intervention(s): Couples were placed on a waiting list for IVF. They received no treatment until IVF was started.Main Outcome Measure(s): Pregnancy rate (PR) while on the waiting list and PR after IVF treatment.Result(s): Complete data sets were available for 131 couples. Seventeen of 131 women became pregnant while waiting for IVF treatment (PR 0.9% per exposure cycle), whereas 45 of 119 receiving IVF treatment became pregnant (PR 17% per IVF attempt).Conclusion(s): IVF treatment has substantial added value over waiting and is an efficient treatment for long-standing unexplained subfertility.