Effect of antibiotic therapy combined with live lactobacillus capsule for vaginal use on chronic endometritis

Objective To determine the effect of antibiotic therapy combined with live lactobacillus capsule for vaginal use on infertile patients with chronic endometritis (CE) for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF). Methods A total of 137 infertile patients with CE who underwent IVF at Xuzhou Central Hospital from January 2019 to June 2021 were enrolled and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. According to their treatments, the patients were divided into three groups: an antibiotic therapy group (n=66), an antibiotic therapy combined with live lactobacillus capsule for vaginal use group (n=60), and an untreated group (n=11). The three groups were compared for their basic information (age, infertile years, body weight index, and basic hormones) and the pregnancy outcomes after the first cycle of embryo transfer (endometrial thickness, the number of embryos transferred, high-quality embryo transfer rate, blastocyst transfer rate, clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, early abortion rate, and ectopic pregnancy rate). Results Antibiotic therapy combined with live lactobacillus capsule for vaginal use remarkably improved clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, without effects on endometrial thickness. There were no statistical differences in general information, the number of embryos transferred, high-quality embryo transfer rate, blastocyst transfer rate, early abortion rate, and ectopic pregnancy rate among the three groups. Conclusions Antibiotic therapy combined with live lactobacillus capsule for vaginal use can improve the pregnancy outcome of CE patients, with better effectiveness than antibiotic therapy alone.