The relationship between microbial contaminations of embryo transfer catheters with pregnancy outcome after embryo transfer

BackgroundDifferent stages of assisted reproductive technologies are susceptible to contamination by various microorganisms.ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between microbial contamination of embryo transfer catheters and the pregnancy outcome after embryo transfer.MethodsThis cohort study was conducted on 60 patients candied for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer cycles from 2021 to 2022. All embryos were transferred using a sterile syringe. The catheter contamination was checked by the microbial culture method, and in the case of microbial culture that were negative, polymerase chain reaction was done to confirm the result. The data analyzed using STATA 17 to determine the impact of catheter contamination on the clinical pregnancy rate.ResultsThe average age of peoples whose microbial culture was positive was lower than that of people whose microbial culture was negative (P