Attitudes towards family formation among men attending fertility counselling.

Men and women are increasingly postponing childbearing until an age where fertility has decreased, meaning that they might have difficulties in achieving their desired family size. This study explored childless men's attitudes towards family formation. Data were collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 21 men attending the Fertility Assessment and Counselling Clinic in Copenhagen or Horsens, Denmark.

Men's expectations and experiences of fertility awareness assessment and counseling.

Introduction: Men play an important role in couples' decisions about the timing of parenthood and they tend to delay parenthood. The reasons for delaying childbearing are multifaceted and complex. Their decisions may be based on a lack of accurate information about the reproductive life span and the consequences of delaying parenthood.

Costs of medically assisted reproduction treatment at specialized fertility clinics in the Danish public health care system: results from a 5-year follow-up cohort study.

Objective: To examine the costs to the public health care system of couples in medically assisted reproduction.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study of infertile couples initiating medically assisted reproduction treatment.

Setting: Specialized public fertility clinics in Denmark.

Culture of human oocytes with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor has no effect on embryonic chromosomal constitution.

The effect on ploidy rate in donated human oocytes after in-vitro culture with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF; 2 ng/ml) from fertilization until day 3 was examined in a multicentre, prospective placebo-controlled and double-blinded study including 73 women donating 86 oocytes. The primary endpoint was to investigate the chromosomal constitution of human embryos (fluorescence in-situ hybridization analysis for chromosomes 13, 16, 18, 21, 22, X and Y) cultured with or without GM-CSF. The secondary endpoints were number of top-quality embryos (TQE) and number of normally developed embryos evaluated morphologically on day 3.

Reproductive outcome using a GnRH antagonist (cetrorelix) for luteolysis and follicular synchronization in poor responder IVF/ICSI patients treated with a flexible GnRH antagonist protocol.

To investigate the possible beneficial effect of a new stimulation protocol (termed 'CRASH') on the outcome of poor responder patients, a multicentre, prospective longitudinal study including a total of 36 women undergoing 72 IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles with patients serving as their own controls, was conducted. A poor responder patient was defined as a patient with four or fewer oocytes extracted from five or fewer follicles and with a total FSH consumption exceeding 2000 IU in a preceding long agonist down-regulation protocol. The CRASH protocol included 3 mg of the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist cetrorelix given in the late luteal phase on cycle day 23.

Assisted hatching improves implantation rates on cryopreserved-thawed embryos. A randomized prospective study.

Background: Focus on the hatching process has so far been in the field of fresh embryos. Cryopreserved-thawed embryos have a lower rate of pregnancy than fresh embryos, which might be due to hardening of the zona pellucida.

Methods: During a 2 year period, a prospective randomized study enrolling 253 cryopreserved-thawed cycles was performed on day 2 embryos.

High ratings of satisfaction with fertility treatment are common: findings from the Copenhagen Multi-centre Psychosocial Infertility (COMPI) Research Programme.

Background: The aims were: (i). to identify gender differences in evaluation of medical and patient-centred (psychosocial) care in fertility clinics and (ii). to identify predictors of satisfaction.

Patients' attitudes to medical and psychosocial aspects of care in fertility clinics: findings from the Copenhagen Multi-centre Psychosocial Infertility (COMPI) Research Programme.

Background: The aims were (i) to identify gender differences in motivations to seek assisted reproduction and gender differences in expectations about medical and psychosocial services and (ii) to examine factors that predict the perceived importance of, and intention to use, psychosocial services among infertile people.

Methods: We conducted an epidemiological study based on questionnaires among all new couples attending five fertility clinics with a response rate of 80.0% and a total of 2250 patients.

Progesterone supplementation during early gestations after IVF or ICSI has no effect on the delivery rates: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The aim was to study whether prolongation of luteal support during early pregnancy influences the delivery rate after IVF.

Methods: Dual centre study including 303 women who achieved pregnancy after IVF or ICSI was used. All were treated with the long protocol using GnRH agonists and given luteal support with 200 mg vaginal progesterone three times daily during 14 days from the day of transfer until the day of a positive HCG test.

Birth of a healthy girl after ICSI with ejaculated spermatozoa from a man with non-mosaic Klinefelter's syndrome.

Klinefelter's syndrome is a major contributor to male infertility. Recent reports of births after ICSI with especially testicular spermatozoa from infertile men with this syndrome are promising. The birth of a healthy girl after ICSI treatment with ejaculated spermatozoa from a man with non-mosaic Klinefelter's syndrome is reported.

A Danish national cohort of 730 infants born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) 1994-1997.

This national cohort study included all clinical pregnancies obtained after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) registered in Denmark between January 1994 and July 1997 at five public and eight private fertility clinics. Laboratory and clinical data were obtained from the fertility clinics. The couples answered a questionnaire regarding the pregnancy and the health of the child (response rate 94%).

Zinc supplementation during pregnancy: a double blind randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate whether zinc supplementation during pregnancy improves maternal and fetal outcome.

Design: Controlled clinical trial started at registration until discharge of mother and child from hospital. Two thousand volunteer mothers were randomly assigned to receive zinc supplementation or placebo in a double blind trial.

Laparoscopic removal of intrauterine devices with retracted threads.

Sixteen women had intrauterine devices (IUDs) with retracted threads. If an IUD with retracted thread is located within the uterus or intramurally, hysteroscopic removal is advisable. If it is located intraabdominally, laparoscopic removal is recommended.

Prostaglandin vaginal suppositories in non pregnant women requiring cervical dilatation prior to hysteroscopy.

A randomized doubleblind investigation of prostaglandin vaginal suppositories prior to hysteroscopy was undertaken in 30 non-pregnant women. PGE2 in 14 of 15 treated patients we found a softening and a dilatation of the cervical canal, but with a relatively high frequency of side effects-nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. No serious bleeding or side effects were observed.

Diagnostic accuracy of outpatient endocervical curettage using conventional and Vabra curettage of the cervix.

With the object of examining the diagnostic accuracy of and pain reaction to endocervical curettage (ECC) either by using a new instrument, Vabra mc cervix, or with a conventional 3 mm metal curette, 298 patients with histologically verified cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or cytological suspicion have been involved in a consecutive prospective randomized trial. One hundred and forty-eight patients underwent curettage with the Vabra instrument (vabrasio) followed by conventional curettage; 150 underwent the same procedure, but in reverse order. In 114 patients, CIN was ascertained in one or both trials.