Purpose: Endometrial receptivity issues represent a potential source of implantation failure. The aim of this study was to document our experience with the endometrial receptivity array (ERA) among patients with a history of euploid blastocyst implantation failure. We investigated whether the contribution of the endometrial factor could be identified with the ERA test and if actionable results can lead to improved outcomes.
Methods: A retrospective review was performed for 88 patients who underwent ERA testing between 2014 and 2017. Reproductive outcomes were compared for patients undergoing frozen embryo transfer (FET) using a standard progesterone protocol versus those with non-receptive results by ERA and subsequent FET according to a personalized embryo transfer (pET) protocol.
Results: Of patients with at least one previously failed euploid FET, 22.5% had a displaced WOI diagnosed by ERA and qualified for pET. After pET, we found that implantation and ongoing pregnancy rates were higher (73.7 vs. 54.2% and 63.2 vs. 41.7%, respectively) compared to patients without pET, although differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Our experience demonstrates that a significant proportion of patients with a history of implantation failure of a euploid embryo have a displaced WOI as detected by the ERA. For these patients, pET using a modified progesterone protocol may improve the outcomes of subsequent euploid FET. Larger randomized studies are required to validate these results.
Keywords: CCS; ERA; Endometrial receptivity; In vitro fertilization; Recurrent implantation failure.