The Effect of Clindamycin and a Live Biotherapeutic on the Reproductive Outcomes of IVF Patients With Abnormal Vaginal Microbiota

Study question: Does antibiotic alone or in combination with live biotherapeutic treatment of an abnormal vaginal microbiota improve the reproductive outcomes of IVF couples?

Study hypothesis:

The investigator hypothesize that treatment of the reproductive tract pathogens and restoration of vaginal Lactobacillus will improve the reproductive outcomes of IVF patients.

What is known already? Ultra-deep sequencing methods enable the refinement of reproductive tract microbiology in infertile patients. A recent meta-analysis reported that 19% of infertile patients had abnormal vaginal microbiota Moreover, someone have detected the presence of a Gardnerella (G.) vaginalis dominated endometrial biofilm in 50% of non-infertile patients with abnormal vaginal microbiota undergoing curettage; thus the treatment of such an endometrial biofilm might play an important role for the endometrial receptivity and subsequently the clinical pregnancy rate.

Pilot study: In a recent pilot study it was observed that an abnormal vaginal microbiota negatively affects the clinical pregnancy rate in IVF patients. In this study the prevalence of abnormal vaginal microbiota was 28% (36/130) and only 9% of patients with qPCR defined abnormal vaginal microbiota obtained a clinical pregnancy (p=0.004). This association remained significant in an adjusted analysis. Furthermore, the invetigators have preliminary results demonstrating that vaginal bacteria such as G. vaginalis can be found in the endometrium of IVF patients, which is also supported by recent publications

What is the novelty of this study? To the investigators knowledge, no previous treatment study of abnormal reproductive tract microbiota has been performed in IVF patients; this relatively small intervention holds the potential to increase the baby-take-home rate after IVF treatment.