Summary. The waveforms of vessels supplying the ovaries of women on an in‐vitro fertilization (IVF) programme were studied using transvaginal B‐mode and Doppler ultrasound. There were 125 scans recorded in 65 women at weekly intervals from 3 days after embryo transfer or 5 days after gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) until confirmation of pregnancy or onset of menses. At each examination the signals obtained from vessels supplying the ovaries were recorded and quantified using a resistance index (RI). Fifteen patients became pregnant of whom one has subsequently miscarried. There was a highly significant difference in the RI values between patients who became pregnant and those who did not; no patient who became pregnant had a RI greater than 0.5. Oestrogen to progesterone ratios were calculated in the subgroup of non‐pregnant patients and there was no correlation between these values and the RI values. This new technique enables prediction of IVF treatment failure earlier than has been reported previously and may reflect the inadequacy of the corpus luteum.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.