A proportion of women with IVF failure may subsequently discover that they have anti-ovarian antibodies (AOA) which may have compromised their ovarian response and IVF success. However if you find out before your IVF that you have AOA there is hope that an inexpensive treatment may help you to succeed.
Getting properly diagnosed is key to getting access to treatment.

The AOA test is seldom used as a screen prior to IVF but it's usefulness is becoming more recognized as more studies confirm the benefits of treatments for this autoimmune disorder. The AOA treatment consists of corticosteroids which act to suppress antibody production allowing the ovaries to function better.

Some studies have begun corticosteroid therapy and waited until the AOA levels drop before starting IVF but the study highlighted below simply added the corticosteroids from the first day of the IVF treatment cycle.

This 2006 study sought to evaluate the impact of corticosteroid treatment on women who had previously failed IVF and who also had a positive AOA test. One hundred women (with at least 2 failed IVF cycles and positive AOA antibodies) pursued a further IVF with the addition of 0.5 mg/Kg prednisolone which was commenced on the first day of the treatment cycle. In women who conceived, the treatment was continued throughout the end of the first trimester then gradually reduced and eliminated.

The results were obtained by comparing the women�s success with corticosteroids with their previous cycles.�Safety concerns are often an issue when corticosteroids are used but in this study no adverse effects were observed. Twenty six pregnancies were confirmed which produced thirty healthy live births. The pregnancy rate was 38.8% and live birth rate 26.5% in women who received corticosteroid therapy.

The researchers of this study concluded that:��

"This study confirms the usefulness of corticosteroids in improving the success rate in a subset of patients with previous IVF failure and significant serum AOA levels."

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Reference: Corticosteroids in patients with antiovarian antibodies undergoing in vitro fertilization: a prospective pilot study. Thierry Forges, et al. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Jan 1, 2006��