The objective of this study was to assess the impact on pregnancy outcome of excising hydrosalpinx(ges) in patients with repeated in-vitro fertilization (IVF) failures. A group of 15 patients who had previously undergone failed IVF attempts and had unilateral or bilateral hydrosalpinx was subjected to an operative laparoscopy with excision of the affected tube(s). Of these, 10 patients underwent a unilateral salpingectomy and five had a bilateral salpingectomy. Stimulated cycles of IVF and/or cryo-thaw cycles were then carried out post-salpingectomy and the results were compared to those of pre-salpingectomy cycles. There was no statistically significant difference between the number of mature eggs retrieved, peak oestradiol concentrations, number of days to human chorionic gonadotrophin administration, or number of pre-zygotes frozen in the stimulated cycles pre- versus post-salpingectomy. Pre-salpingectomy, 15 patients underwent 38 stimulated cycles and eight patients underwent 14 cycles with cryopreserved-thawed embryos, achieving one pregnancy from a fresh transfer that resulted in a miscarriage. Post-salpingectomy, eight patients underwent 12 stimulated cycles, achieving five clinical pregnancies (two miscarriages and three ongoing pregnancies, i.e. either delivered or a pregnancy > or = 20 weeks), and nine patients underwent 10 cycles with cryopreserved-thawed embryos, achieving four clinical pregnancies (one miscarriage and three ongoing). We conclude that excision of hydrosalpinx(ges) improves the pregnancy potential after IVF, and that new and repeat IVF patients should be counselled accordingly.