| BackgroundInfertility is one of the common diseases in genecology. According to the foreign statistic, the incidence of this disease is as high as 10%-15% among the married. IVF-ET is an important means to cure it. However, whether it succeeds mainly depends on both the quality of embryos and the status of Endometrial Receptivity (ER). The developments of Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) such as Controlled Ovarian Hyperstimulation(COH), fertilization and embryo cultivation have led to an optimization in the number and quality of embryos available to ET. So the relation between ER and the pregnant rate of IVF-ET has become closer than ever. But in fact, it's difficult to study ER in IVF-ET cycles, because it's inherently impossible in actual ET cycles for us to acquire the patient's endometrium sampling, and we haven't found out any subtler serum marker which can reflect the ER.High-resolution transvaginal ultrasonography has many advantages such as non-invasiveness, convenience and good repetality, so it's widely used to monitor the development of follicles and observe the shape of uterine cavity. However, whether can it be used to assess ER to predict the possibility of pregnancy? In the past several years, many scholars have done a lot of associated researches in different sides which can be classified into five facets: uterine endometrial thickness and echogenicity, the resistance of the uterine artery, the perfusion of (sub)endometrial blood flow, uterinecontraction and establishing a scoring system. However, the conclusions varied among the authors even if they adopt the same parameter. Following are some of the problems that need to be discussed: (1) EXAMINATION TIME: The period containing the fifth to the seventh days after ovulation is called "implantation window". In order to evaluate ER more exactly, we'd better select the time nearest to ET, on the other hand, in order to reduce the interference of ultrasound and increase the function of ultrasound's assessment to ER so that proper disposal can be given, we should choose the exam time far from ET as possible. So it's very important to pick up the optimal exam time by considering the two sides. However, most previous studies just fixed the exam on the day of HCG injection, ovulation or ET without considering it. (2) INCLUSION CRITERIA: Many factors such as age and infertility cause influence the result of ET. So we should be strict to the inclusion criteria to avoid bias. However, many literatures didn't make the control over patient age, infertility cause or uterine position. (3) STUDY METHOD: Some evaluating endometrial echo only observed it with naked eyes, which lacks objectivity. It's necessary to find a way to assess the echo objectively. (4) ULTRASOUND INSTRUMENT: different machines, especially with Color Doppler facility, may display dissimilar images, even if they are performed to scan the same patient. So we should select precise instrument and accomplish all the exams by the same operator with rich experience. (5) UTERINE CONTRACTION (UC): most literatures covered little about the direction and amplitude of UC, which may influence ER. Thus, when we designed the study, we considered all the questions above and tried to control or optimize them so as to analyze objectively the value of TVCDU parameters in evaluating ET and provide the clinic with some useful information.Materials and methodsParticipants (subjects) were recruited from Reproduction and Endocrinology department in the Woman Hospital, Medical School of Zhejiang University. They were all inpatients in the COH cycles with normal menstrual flow. They gave verbal informed consent to this exam. Since our study mainly covers the relation of ER andET result (that's to say, the result of ET is mainly affected by ER), according to the previous literatures and authorities in our hospital, following are the inclusion criteria: (1) all patients are not more than 35 years, without serious disease or distortion of the uterine cavity detected by ultrasound scan or hysterscopy, or disease such...
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