Impact of hypnosis during embryo transfer on the outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer: a case-control study

Objective: To investigate whether hypnosis during ET contributes to successful IVF/ET outcome. Design: Case-control clinical study. Setting: Academic Fertility and IVF Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Patient(s): Infertile couples undergoing IVF. Intervention(s): Ninety-eight IVF/ET cycles with hypnosis during the ET procedure were matched with 96 regular IVF/ET cycles. Main Outcome Measures: Comparison of clinical pregnancy and implantation rates between the two groups. Result(s): We obtained 52 clinical pregnancies out of 98 cycles (53.1%) with an implantation rate of 28% among hypnosis IVF/ET cycles, and 29 out of 96 (30.2%) clinical pregnancies and an implantation rate of 14.4% in the control cycles. Our overall IVF program pregnancy rate for the same period was 32.1%. Logistic regression analysis was performed emphasizing the positive contribution of hypnosis to the IVF/ET conception rates. Conclusion(s): This study suggests that the use of hypnosis during ET may significantly improve the IVF/ET cycle outcome in terms of increased implantation and clinical pregnancy rates. Furthermore, it seems that the patients' attitude to the treatment was more favorable.