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Small study suggests that IVF is feasible in patients who have undergone bariatric surgery
(HealthDay News) - Morbidly obese women who are treated with bariatric surgery can successfully achieve pregnancy as a result of in vitro fertilization, according to research presented this week at the 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Francisco.
Beth M. Lewkowski, M.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues studied five patients who underwent bariatric surgery prior to in vitro fertilization, including four who received a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and one who received a gastric banding procedure. All five women underwent ovarian stimulation with a standard step-down gonadotropin protocol after midluteal down-regulation with a GnRH agonist.
The researchers found that three patients achieved pregnancy with their first in vitro fertilization cycle and that two patients required additional cycles. At the study's conclusion, three women had delivered healthy term infants and the other two were carrying healthy pregnancies.
"Report of these cases is important as literature describing in vitro fertilization outcomes after bariatric surgery is sparse," the authors conclude. "Some centers advocate and even require weight loss prior to vitro fertilization for obese women as obesity presents risks for pregnancy, and obesity has been shown to decrease vitro fertilization success. Further research on vitro fertilization after bariatric surgery is needed to demonstrate the utility of bariatric surgery as a means for weight loss prior to vitro fertilization in morbidly obese women."
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