Publications by authors named "Anna Pia Ferraretti"

Research Question: Is the efficacy of imported vitrified oocyte donation affected by the cryobank of origin?

Design: Longitudinal cohort study, including 249 completed oocyte warming cycles from 200 recipients (January 2016-July 2020). No severe male factor was included. Vitrified oocytes were provided by three Spanish cryobanks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Research Question: What is the proportion of chromosomally abnormal spermatozoa in men with a history of reproductive failure, including patients with normal karyotype and carriers of translocations? Should this analysis be included in a clinical setting to define the best treatment options for infertile couples?

Design: Aneuploidy for chromosomes XY, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22 was tested by fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) in 1665 samples from couples with normal karyotype having had at least three previous IVF failures, miscarriages, or both (group-A). A FISH test was also carried out in 76 samples from carriers of translocations (group B) to detect the proportion of spermatozoa with unbalanced rearrangement.

Results: In group A, the lowest incidence of aneuploid sperm cells was found in men with normozoospermia (1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To assess the role of recombinant human LH (r-hLH) supplementation in ovarian stimulation for ART in specific subgroups of patients.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Centers for reproductive care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Infertility is a condition affecting an increasing number of individuals all over the world. In recent years, this phenomenon has spread across both western countries and developing countries, thus developing the features of a pandemic. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged that infertility should be considered a disease to all intents and purposes, as it diminishes the health and wellbeing of the individuals who suffers from it.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This is a pilot study performed in a private IVF unit. The objective of the study was to investigate whether luteal support is required in IVF cycles after mild stimulation with clomiphene citrate and low FSH doses. The study included 15 patients with good prognosis (defined as ≤38 years old with normal ovarian reserve and normovulatory cycles, body mass index <29 kg/m, no previous cycles, no severe endometriosis, no history of recurrent miscarriage, no endocrine/autoimmune diseases and no surgical semen extraction from the partner) undergoing IVF with mild stimulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ovarian reserve markers have been documented to perform very well in the clinical practice. While this is widely recognized, still now there is no consensus on how to use new biomarkers in the clinical practice. This study was conducted among Italian IVF centres using the Delphi technique, a validated consensus-building process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To validate the use of clomiphene citrate in IVF when mild stimulation approaches are chosen to reduce patient discomfort, risk, and cost.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Private IVF clinic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To investigate the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segregation in human oocytes, the level of heteroplasmy in the three products of meioses, polar bodies (PBs) and corresponding oocytes, was assessed by studying the hypervariable region I (HVRI) of the D-loop region. The DNA from 122 PBs and 51 oocytes from 16 patients was amplified by whole genome amplification (WGA). An aliquot of the WGA product was used to assess aneuploidy, and another aliquot to study mtDNA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Poor response to ovarian stimulation is still a major problem in IVF. The study presents a new stimulation protocol evaluated in a suppopulation of very difficult young poor ovarian responders.

Material And Methods: The study consists in two sections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objective of the present study was to develop an approach that could assess the chromosomal status and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content of oocytes and their corresponding polar bodies (PBs) with the goal of obtaining a comparative picture of the segregation process both for nuclear and mtDNA. After Whole Genome Amplification (WGA), sequencing of the whole mitochondrial genome was attempted to analyze the segregation of mutant and wild-type mtDNA during human meiosis. Three triads, composed of oocyte and corresponding PBs, were analyzed and their chromosome status was successfully assessed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Bologna criteria were published by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in 2011 to help address the lack of a clear definition of poor ovarian responders. Since its publication, aspects of the criteria have been cited several times, whilst others have been criticized. In this debate, we re-examine the criteria (which address age, the number of oocytes retrieved and the results of ovarian reserve tests) following new evidence produced and we analyse the criticism received in an attempt to determine if revisions are needed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

National legislations represent one of the main factors influencing access to assisted reproduction treatment. The Italian situation in the last decade is an example of how the treatment of patients for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was more dependent on regulators than on medical choices. This report analysed how the changes in Italian regulation affected the number of PGD referrals to this study centre, as well as their decision to opt for cross-border reproductive care (CBRC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objective of this study was to investigate whether medical therapy can reduce sperm aneuploidy levels and improve the results of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in patients with severe idiopathic oligoasthenoteratospermia (OAT). Thirty-three infertile couples requiring ICSI because of severe idiopathic OAT after at least one unsuccessful ICSI cycle were considered. Semen parameters (concentration, motility and morphology), the percentage of aneuploid sperm and the results of ICSI (the number of oocytes fertilized, embryos transferred, biochemical pregnancies, clinical pregnancies and live births) were compared before and after a 3-month course of treatment with L-carnitine 1 g given twice per day+acetyl-L-carnitine 500 mg given twice per day+one 30-mg cinnoxicam tablet every 4 days.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate the effects on human spermatozoa of freeze-drying, also known as lyophilization, and of cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen.

Design: Prospective experimental study.

Setting: Reproductive medicine unit and a private IVF center.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between monitors of spermatogenesis and predictors of the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) undergoing testicular sperm extraction (TESE). Seventy-nine patients with NOA (mean age: 43.6±5.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cross-border reproductive care, also called reproductive tourism, refers to the travelling of citizens from their country of residence to another country in order to receive fertility treatment through assisted reproductive technology. Several reasons account for cross-border reproductive care: (i) a certain kind of treatment is forbidden by law in the couple's own country or is inaccessible to the couple because of their demographic or social characteristics; (ii) foreign centres report higher success rates compared with those of the centres in the country of residence; (iii) a specific treatment may be locally unavailable because of a lack of expertise or because the treatment is considered experimental or insufficiently safe; and (iv) limited access to the treatment in the couple's home country because of long waiting lists, excessive distance from a centre or high costs. Although cross-border reproductive care can be viewed as a safety valve, the phenomenon is often associated with a high risk of health dangers, frustration and disparities.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Interdependence between sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and the percentage of aneuploid sperm was explored to test whether oligoasthenoteratospermia (OAT) may have a multiple origin in idiopathic infertile males. A total of 174 men (age, 35.8 +/- 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To analyze embryo morphology in relation to the corresponding chromosomal status, in order to evaluate the effects of aneuploidy over fragmentation, delayed cleavage, and arrested cleavage.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Reproductive Medicine Unit, Società Italiana di Studi di Medicina della Riproduzione, Bologna, Italy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The article presents a new system for the recruitment of gamete donors. The system is a partial application of the mirror exchange system: the male partner of a couple donates sperm, and in return, he receives the guarantee that his partner benefits from a greatly reduced waiting time for donor oocytes. More specifically, the woman will obtain donor oocytes within a period of 8 months.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To evaluate the influence of inner myometrium fibroids (myomas) on the outcome of IVF cycles, a retrospective agematched controlled study was performed at SISMeR Reproductive Medicine Unit. The study group included 129 IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles in 75 patients with one or more intramural and/or submucosal fibroids, while the control group consisted of 129 cycles in 127 patients without fibroids. The two groups were similar for mean oestradiol concentration at human chorionic gonadotrophin administration (1205.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique, we have characterized two types of ionic currents through voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels in human granulosa cells. One is long-lasting, activates at approximately -20 mV, reaches the peak at approximately +20 mV, has an inactivation time constant of 132.5 +/- 5.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To investigate the role of exogenous LH in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for assisted reproductive technologies.

Design: Prospective randomized study.

Setting: SISMER fertility unit.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The three respondents provide additional support for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) having the pivotal place it now has in prenatal genetic diagnosis: chromosomal abnormalities (e.g., unbalanced translocations), Mendelian disorders, and HLA typing for transfer of compatible, genetically normal, embryos.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: