Improved pregnancy rates with luteinizing hormone supplementation in patients undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF.

Introduction: Luteinizing hormone (LH) is believed to play a role in follicle maturation during the natural cycle. However, the need for co-treatment with recombinant LH (rLH) for controlled ovarian stimulation is controversial.

Purpose: The primary objective of our study was to determine if pregnancy rates are improved when rLH is used in addition to rFSH for ovarian stimulation.

A prospective randomized trial of conventional in vitro fertilization versus intracytoplasmic sperm injection in unexplained infertility.

Purpose: To compare outcomes in patients with unexplained infertility undergoing conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) versus intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Methods: Sixty women with unexplained infertility in a Canadian tertiary-level clinic were randomized to IVF or ICSI. Subjects underwent downregulation with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist prior to initiation of recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone.

Follicle luteinization in hyperandrogenic follicles of polycystic ovary syndrome patients undergoing gonadotropin therapy for in vitro fertilization.

Context: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a reproductive disorder of ovarian hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance characterized by abnormal luteinization of small follicles. After exposure to GnRH analog/FSH stimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF), however, it is unclear whether such PCOS follicles remain abnormally luteinized during the resumption of oocyte maturation in vivo.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether PCOS follicles exposed to GnRH analog/FSH stimulation for IVF show abnormal luteinization.

Diagnosis of polycystic ovaries by three-dimensional transvaginal ultrasound.

Objective: To study diagnostic thresholds for polycystic ovary (PCO).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic hospital.

Diminished intrafollicular estradiol levels in in vitro fertilization cycles from women with reduced ovarian response to recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone.

Objective: To correlate serum and intrafollicular E(2) levels in women receiving GnRH agonist and recombinant human (h)FSH for IVF.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Academic IVF center.

Nonhuman primates contribute unique understanding to anovulatory infertility in women.

Anovulatory infertility affects a large proportion of reproductive-aged women. Major improvements in successful clinical treatment of this prevalent disorder in women's health have been made possible because of biomedical research employing nonhuman primates. Experiments on female rhesus monkeys were the first to demonstrate that the key hypothalamic neurotransmitter, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, involved in stimulating pituitary gonadotropin synthesis, storage, and release was bioactive only when released in approximately hourly bursts.

Eclampsia in Southern Alberta: is there a role for seizure prophylaxis in all women with gestational hypertension?

Objective: To evaluate the predictability of eclampsia and explore the role for seizure prophylaxis in a population with a low frequency of seizure prophylaxis.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all women with eclampsia registered at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, between 1991 and 2000. The data collected included timing of seizure in relation to diagnosis of gestational hypertension (GHTN) and delivery, method of seizure prophylaxis (if any), and maternal characteristics.