Clinical Value of Basal Serum Progesterone Prior to Initiate Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation with GnRH Antagonists: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: The routine assessment of day 3 serum progesterone prior to initiation of ovarian hyper-stimulation with the use of GnRH antagonists is under debate. In this study, we evaluated the clinical utility of this policy.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the use of GnRH antagonists aimed at determining the frequency of cases with progesterone levels exceeding the recommended threshold of 1,660 pg/ml and at evaluating whether this assessment may be predictive of pregnancy.

First trimester combined screening test in pregnancies derived from blastocyst transfer.

Objective: To investigate whether first trimester combined screening for major fetal trisomies is influenced by assisted reproduction techniques from blastocyst transfer, with or without cryopreservation.

Study Design: retrospective case-control analysis involving 298 singleton pregnancies with euploid fetuses recruited between 2012 and 2014. Forty-seven women conceived with fresh blastocysts from in vitro fertilization cycles (fresh-blasto), 51 with frozen-thawed blastocysts (frozen-blasto) and 200 were natural conceptions (controls).

Levothyroxine dose adjustment in hypothyroid women achieving pregnancy through IVF.

Objective: About one out of two women with primary hypothyroidism has to increase the dosage of exogenous levothyroxine (L-T4) during pregnancy. Considering the detrimental impact of IVF on thyroid function, it has been claimed but not demonstrated that L-T4 dose adjustment may be more significant in hypothyroid women who become pregnant after IVF.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Asymptomatic adenomyosis and embryo implantation in IVF cycles.

Research on the effect of adenomyosis on the rate of success of IVF is controversial. Differences in study design, study power, criteria and instrument used to diagnose adenomyosis and choice of controls may explain these discrepancies. To establish whether embryo implantation is impaired in women with adenomyosis, women scheduled for IVF were prospectively evaluated for the presence of adenomyosis and whether this condition affected embryo implantation.

In vitro fertilization outcome in women with unoperated bilateral endometriomas.

Objective: To evaluate IVF outcome in women with unoperated bilateral endometriomas.

Design: Multicenter retrospective cohort study.

Settings: Two infertility units.