Tubal flushing with oil-based contrast during hysterosalpingography versus tubal flushing by hysterosalpingo-foam sonography in infertile women undergoing fertility work-up: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial (FOil study).

Introduction: Hysterosalpingography (HSG) and hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) are commonly used tubal patency tests during the fertility work-up. Besides its diagnostic purpose, HSG with oil-based contrast can also be applied for its fertility-enhancing effect, by tubal flushing. HyFoSy is considered as less painful compared with HSG, it lacks exposure to iodinated contrast medium and ionising radiation.

Cumulative live birth rate of a blastocyst versus cleavage stage embryo transfer policy during in vitro fertilisation in women with a good prognosis: multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To evaluate whether embryo transfers at blastocyst stage improve the cumulative live birth rate after oocyte retrieval, including both fresh and frozen-thawed transfers, and whether the risk of obstetric and perinatal complications is increased compared with cleavage stage embryo transfers during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

Design: Multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Setting: 21 hospitals and clinics in the Netherlands, 18 August 2018 to 17 December 2021.

Web-based interventions in the clinical encounter in fertility care: a scoping review.

There has been a huge increase in the development of new e-health initiatives, including interventions supporting the interaction between patients and healthcare professionals - the clinical encounter. This interaction can influence clinical decision making during a patient's workup or treatment process. This scoping review was designed (i) to display the current landscape of web-based interventions to support the clinical encounter, and (ii) to critically appraise their composition.

The effect of prior hysterosalpingo-foam sonography or hysterosalpingography on tubal patency: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Study Question: Does hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) prior to hysterosalpingography (HSG) or HSG prior to HyFoSy affect visible tubal patency when compared HSG or HyFoSy alone?

Summary Answer: Undergoing either HyFoSy or HSG prior to tubal patency testing by the alternative method does not demonstrate a significant difference in visible tubal patency when compared to HyFoSy or HSG alone.

What Is Known Already: HyFoSy and HSG are two commonly used visual tubal patency tests with a high and comparable diagnostic accuracy for evaluating tubal patency. These tests may also improve fertility, although the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood.

Hysterosalpingo-foam sonography versus hysterosalpingography during fertility work-up: an economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial.

Study Question: What are the costs and effects of tubal patency testing by hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) compared to hysterosalpingography (HSG) in infertile women during the fertility work-up?

Summary Answer: During the fertility work-up, clinical management based on the test results of HyFoSy leads to slightly lower, though not statistically significant, live birth rates, at lower costs, compared to management based on HSG results.

What Is Known Already: Traditionally, tubal patency testing during the fertility work-up is performed by HSG. The FOAM trial, formally a non-inferiority study, showed that management decisions based on the results of HyFoSy resulted in a comparable live birth rate at 12 months compared to HSG (46% versus 47%; difference -1.

The lack of evidence behind over-the-counter antioxidant supplements for male fertility patients: a scoping review.

Study Question: What is the evidence for over-the-counter antioxidant supplements for male infertility?

Summary Answer: Less than half of over-the-counter antioxidant supplements for male fertility patients have been tested in a clinical trial, and the available clinical trials are generally of poor quality.

What Is Known Already: The prevalence of male infertility is rising and, with this, the market for supplements claiming to improve male fertility is expanding. Up to now, there is limited data on the evidence for these over-the-counter supplements.

The endometrial microbiota of women with or without a live birth within 12 months after a first failed IVF/ICSI cycle.

The endometrial microbiota composition may be associated with implantation success. However, a 'core' composition has not yet been defined. This exploratory study analysed the endometrial microbiota by 16S rRNA sequencing (V1-V2 region) of 141 infertile women whose first IVF/ICSI cycle failed and compared the microbiota profiles of women with and without a live birth within 12 months of follow-up, and by infertility cause and type.

Fertility preservation for women with breast cancer: a multicentre randomized controlled trial on various ovarian stimulation protocols.

Study Question: Does ovarian stimulation with the addition of tamoxifen or letrozole affect the number of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) retrieved compared to standard ovarian stimulation in women with breast cancer who undergo fertility preservation?

Summary Answer: Alternative ovarian stimulation protocols with tamoxifen or letrozole did not affect the number of COCs retrieved at follicle aspiration in women with breast cancer.

What Is Known Already: Alternative ovarian stimulation protocols have been introduced for women with breast cancer who opt for fertility preservation by means of banking of oocytes or embryos. How these ovarian stimulation protocols compare to standard ovarian stimulation in terms of COC yield is unknown.

Antioxidants for male subfertility.

Background: The inability to have children affects 10% to 15% of couples worldwide. A male factor is estimated to account for up to half of the infertility cases with between 25% to 87% of male subfertility considered to be due to the effect of oxidative stress. Oral supplementation with antioxidants is thought to improve sperm quality by reducing oxidative damage.

Can hysterosalpingo-foam sonography replace hysterosalpingography as first-choice tubal patency test? A randomized non-inferiority trial.

Study Question: Does hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) lead to similar pregnancy outcomes, compared with hysterosalpingography (HSG), as first-choice tubal patency test in infertile couples?

Summary Answer: HyFoSy and HSG produce similar findings in a majority of patients and clinical management based on the results of either HyFoSy or HSG, leads to comparable pregnancy outcomes. HyFoSy is experienced as significantly less painful.

What Is Known Already: Traditionally, tubal patency testing during fertility work-up is performed by HSG.

Fertility Workup With Video Consultation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Pilot Quantitative and Qualitative Study.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, major parts of elective health care in the Netherlands, such as reproductive medicine, were paused. When health care was resumed, video consultation was used as a new solution to continue consultations with the new governmental rules of social distancing. Prior to this COVID-19 situation, video consultation was not used extensively in the Netherlands; therefore, physicians and patients are not familiar with this way of consultation.

Increased obstetric and neonatal risks in artificial cycles for frozen embryo transfers?

Research Question: What are the obstetric and neonatal risks for women conceiving via frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) during a modified natural cycle compared with an artificial cycle method.

Design: A follow-up study to the ANTARCTICA randomized controlled trial (RCT) (NTR 1586) conducted in the Netherlands, which showed that modified natural cycle FET (NC-FET) was non-inferior to artificial cycle FET (AC-FET) in terms of live birth rates. The current study collected data on obstetric and neonatal outcomes of 98 women who had a singleton live birth.

Comparing the cumulative live birth rate of cleavage-stage versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfers between IVF cycles: a study protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled superiority trial (the ToF trial).

Introduction: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has evolved as an intervention of choice to help couples with infertility to conceive. In the last decade, a strategy change in the day of embryo transfer has been developed. Many IVF centres choose nowadays to transfer at later stages of embryo development, for example, transferring embryos at blastocyst stage instead of cleavage stage.

The long-term costs and effects of tubal flushing with oil-based versus water-based contrast during hysterosalpingography.

Research Question: What are the long-term costs and effects of oil- versus water-based contrast in infertile women undergoing hysterosalpingography (HSG)?

Design: This economic evaluation of a long-term follow-up of a multicentre randomized controlled trial involved 1119 infertile women randomized to HSG with oil- (n = 557) or water-based contrast (n = 562) in the Netherlands.

Results: In the oil-based contrast group, 39.8% of women needed no other treatment, 34.

Effect of needle diameter on pain during oocyte retrieval-a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To study pain in women undergoing oocyte retrieval with a reduced needle (20/17 gauge) compared to a standard needle (16 gauge).

Design: Single-center randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Fertility clinic.

Tubal flushing with oil-based or water-based contrast at hysterosalpingography for infertility: long-term reproductive outcomes of a randomized trial.

Objective: To determine the impact of oil-based versus water-based contrast on pregnancy and live birth rates ≤5 years after hysterosalpingography (HSG) in infertile women.

Design: A 5-year follow-up study of a multicenter randomized trial.

Setting: Hospitals.

Independent and Web-Based Advice for Infertile Patients Using Fertility Consult: Pilot Study.

Background: Patient-centered care-that is, care tailored to personal wishes and needs of patients-has become increasingly important. It is especially relevant in health care areas where patients suffer from a high burden of disease, such as fertility care. At present, both diagnosis and treatment for infertile couples is provided at a single hospital.

Do female age and body weight modify the effect of individualized FSH dosing in IVF/ICSI treatment? A secondary analysis of the OPTIMIST trial.

Introduction: The OPTIMIST trial revealed that for women starting in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment, no substantial differences exist in first cycle and cumulative live birth rates between an antral follicle count (AFC)-based individualized follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) dose and a standard dose. Female age and body weight have been suggested to cause heterogeneity in the effect of FSH dose individualization. The objective of the current study is to evaluate whether these patient characteristics modify the effect of AFC-based individualized FSH dosing in IVF/ICSI treatment.

Cumulative live birth rates in low-prognosis women.

Study Question: Do cumulative live birth rates (CLBRs) over multiple IVF/ICSI cycles confirm the low prognosis in women stratified according to the POSEIDON criteria?

Summary Answer: The CLBR of low-prognosis women is ~56% over 18 months of IVF/ICSI treatment and varies between the POSEIDON groups, which is primarily attributable to the impact of female age.

What Is Known Already: The POSEIDON group recently proposed a new stratification for low-prognosis women in IVF/ICSI treatment, with the aim to define more homogenous populations for clinical trials and stimulate a patient-tailored therapeutic approach. These new criteria combine qualitative and quantitative parameters to create four groups of low-prognosis women with supposedly similar biologic characteristics.

In Vitro Maturation of Oocytes in Women at Risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome-A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

Background: In vitro maturation (IVM) is an artificial reproductive technology in which immature oocytes are harvested from the ovaries and subsequently will be matured in vitro. IVM does not require ovarian hyperstimulation (OH) and thus the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is avoided. In this study, we assessed the live birth rate per initiated IVM cycle in women eligible for in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ ICSI) and at risk for OHSS.

Oil-based or water-based contrast for hysterosalpingography in infertile women: a cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To determine the cost effectiveness of the use of oil-based versus water-based contrast in infertile women undergoing hysterosalpingography (HSG).

Design: Economic evaluation alongside a multicenter randomized trial.

Setting: Hospitals.

The FOAM study: is Hysterosalpingo foam sonography (HyFoSy) a cost-effective alternative for hysterosalpingography (HSG) in assessing tubal patency in subfertile women? Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Tubal pathology is a causative factor in 20% of subfertile couples. Traditionally, tubal testing during fertility work-up is performed by hysterosalpingography (HSG). Hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) is a new technique that is thought to have comparable accuracy as HSG, while it is less expensive and more patient friendly.