The present study was conducted in the fertility unit of a medical college to compare the implantation rate of embryo in ultrasound-guided vs clinical touch method of embryo transfer. Today, approximately 80% of women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) will reach the embryo transfer stage with good quality embryos. Traditionally, the ‘clinical touch’ method has been used to guide placement of the embryo transfer. The use of ultrasound to guide embryo transfer would allow accurate and atraumatic positioning of the catheter tip near the uterine fundus.

A prospective study was conducted at fertility center of Mahatma Gandhi Hospital. A total 100 patients requiring IVF, from a period of July 2011—July 2013 were taken into the study. A total of 50 patients were subjected to USG-guided embryo transfer and 50 patients were subjected to clinical touch embryo transfer. Detailed patient history, clinical examination, relevant investigation and details of procedure were entered in a prestructured proforma. The data were entered and analyzed in Microsoft Office Excel.

There was a significant improvement in the implantation rates in the USG-guided group (31.9%) as compared to clinical touch group (24.3%). There was also a significant improvement in the pregnancy rates in the USG-guided group (40%) as compared to the clinical touch group (28%). Compared with the traditional clinical touch method, the abdominal ultrasound-guided embryo transfer was found to have a number of advantages.

Jindal M, Swarankar ML, Garg S, Sharma U. Comparison of Implantation Rates in Ultrasound- guided vs Clinical Touch Embryo Transfer. J Mahatma Gandhi Univ Med Sci Tech 2016;1(1):10-14.