Can anti-ovarian antibody testing be useful in an IVF-ET clinic?

OBJECTIVE: To establish importance of anti-ovarian antibodies (AOA) testing in infertile women. DESIGN: A clinical reproductive outcome comparative study between two groups of women undergoing IVF-ET. Group 1 consists of women tested positive for AOA, put on corticosteroid therapy, reverted to AOA negative and then taken up for IVF-ET. Group 2 were seronegative for AOA. SETTING: Major urban infertility reference centre and National research institute. PATIENT(S): Five hundred seventy infertile women enrolled for IVF-ET. INTERVENTION(S): AOA testing, corticosteroid therapy and IVF-ET/ICSI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Comparable clinical outcome and significance of AOA testing established. RESULTS: AOA positive serum samples were sent periodically to re-investigate presence of AOA after corticosteroid therapy and women turned AOA negative were taken up for IVF-ET. Of the 70/138 women in group 1 who were treated with corticosteroids and turned seronegative for AOA, 22/70 were poor responders and needed donor oocyte-recipient cycles. Results demonstrated that fertilization and clinical pregnancy rates between both groups are comparable. Nevertheless, it is also observed that there is poor response to stimulation protocol, smaller number of oocytes retrieved and more spontaneous abortions in group 1 women. Hence not all outcomes following the treatment are comparable between the two groups. Usefulness of the test was established in two case studies. CONCLUSIONS: AOA testing could be included in the battery of tests investigating and treating infertility.