When should patients abandon treatment?

Abstract

Couples with RIF need counseling regarding when they should abandon IVF cycles and be offered alternative treatment options such as gamete donation or surrogacy. Although there are no epidemiological data on cumulative success rates following various treatments in RIF patients, a rational approach based on current literature is presented. Patients below 40 years of age, after correction of the RIF-related condition may extend the number of subsequent cycles up to nine. Patients aged 40–42 years may benefit from six further cycles, which should be performed in a short period, avoiding a significant delay that has aging-related negative effects on both pregnancy rates and pregnancy outcome. Patients older than 42 years have very low live-birth rates per cycle and should be counseled that less than five cycles should be further offered without delaying entering an oocyte-donation program. © 2020 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.