Amniotic fluid human chorionic gonadotrophin and alpha-fetoprotein levels in pregnancies conceived after assisted reproduction

Abstract

Objectives: To study the alteration in the second-trimester maternal serum levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in pregnancies conceived after assisted reproduction. Methods: We compared the amniotic fluid hCG and AFP concentrations of 45 pregnancies with fresh embryo transfer and 25 pregnancies with frozen-thawed embryo transfer with 269 spontaneous pregnancies. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for analysis. Results: The median amniotic fluid hCG MoM in pregnancies conceived after frozen-thawed embryo transfer was significantly increased to 1.41 compared to 1.00 (p = 0.01) in naturally occurring pregnancies and 0.96 (p = 0.049) in pregnancies after fresh embryo transfer. Further analysis showed that this was only observed in frozen embryos fertilized by conventional insemination with MoM of 1.59. The AFP MoMs were similar among the groups. Conclusions: The observed raised amniotic fluid hCG level in IVF-FET pregnancies may reflect the elevated maternal serum level in these pregnancies. Further studies should be directed towards exploring the underlying pathophysiology. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.