The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess whether the addition of recombinant luteinizing hormone (LH) increases live birth rate, among patients treated with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) answering the research question that contained sufficient information to allow ascertainment of whether randomization was true and whether equality was present between the groups compared, regarding baseline demographic characteristics, gonadotrophin stimulation protocol, number of embryos transferred and luteal phase support administered. A literature search identified seven RCTs (701 patients) that provided the information of interest, among which five reported agonist and two antagonist cycles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbeta-thalassemia (beta-thal) is characterized by disturbances of the reproductive system. The aim of the present study was: 1) to assess the hypothalamic- pituitary-gonadal axis in patients with beta-thal in relation to their phenotype and 2) to determine prognostic features of current gonadal status. We studied 135 patients (67 males and 68 females) with beta-thal through history, physical examination, spermiograms and GnRH test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Data Mining is a relatively new field of Medical Informatics. The aim of this study was to compare Data Mining diagnosis with clinical diagnosis by applying a Data Miner (DM) to a clinical dataset of infertile men with azoospermia.
Design: One hundred and forty-seven azoospermic men were clinically classified into four groups: a) obstructive azoospermia (n=63), b) non-obstructive azoospermia (n=71), c) hypergonadotropic hypogonadism (n=2), and d) hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (n=11).
Introduction: Tamoxifen therapy is associated with an increased risk of endometrial carcinoma, and possibly uterine sarcomas. Little is known about hormone receptor expression in mesenchymal tumors of the uterus after tamoxifen therapy.
Cases: The cases of two patients with uterine mesenchymal tumors after prolonged tamoxifen therapy due to breast cancer are presented.
Idiopathic non-obstructive azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia (INOA) consists a special group of men characterized by eugonadism, primary infertility, low testicular volume, azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia and high follicle stimulating hormone values. Aims of this study were to describe the clinical, hormonal, sperm and histological characteristics of men with INOA and to define if and to what extend men with the INOA phenotype carry Y chromosome long arm (Yq) microdeletions. Sixty-three men with INOA were studied through clinical examination, spermiograms, hormonal profile, polymerase chain reaction for Yq microdeletions, karyotype and testicular fine-needle aspiration biopsy.
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