Sperm retrieval and concomitant tumor resection in azoospermic men with congenital adrenal hyperplasia and bilateral testicular adrenal rest tumors: a case report.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to offer a new treatment approach for sperm retrieval simultaneously with tumor resection in azoospermic men with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), orchialgia, and bilateral testicular adrenal rest tumors (TARTs) who fail to respond to medical treatment.

Methods: This is a retrospective chart review from a couple's fertility center.

Results: Between May 2013 and May 2015, two azoospermic men with CAH and bilateral TARTs, with orchialgia, and desire to conceive underwent bilateral TART resection in the same surgical setting as sperm retrieval after remaining azoospermic with normalization of gonadotropins with treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

Live birth following IVF/ICSI using oocytes from donor who was conceived via IVF: a case report.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to report a case of live birth following donor oocyte in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) in which the oocyte donor herself was conceived via IVF. To our knowledge, such a case has not been previously reported.

Methods: Retrospective chart review; this case is reported after chart review of a successful outcome.

Antimüllerian hormone as a predictor of good-quality supernumerary blastocyst cryopreservation among women with levels <1 ng/mL versus 1-4 ng/mL.

Objective: To determine whether antimüllerian hormone (AMH) levels predict the availability of good-quality supernumerary blastocysts for cryopreservation.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Two fertility centers.

Human embryo culture media comparisons.

Every program of assisted reproduction strives to maximize pregnancy outcomes from in vitro fertilization and selecting an embryo culture medium, or medium pair, consistent with high success rates is key to this process. The common approach is to replace an existing medium with a new one of interest in the overall culture system and then perform enough cycles of IVF to see if a difference is noted both in laboratory measures of embryo quality and in pregnancy. This approach may allow a laboratory to select one medium over another but the outcomes are only relevant to that program, given that there are well over 200 other variables that may influence the results in an IVF cycle.

The principal variables of cryopreservation: solutions, temperatures, and rate changes.

Objective: To describe several fundamental variables that influence ultimate survival of oocytes and embryos when they are cryopreserved.

Design: The literature describing fundamental and applied aspects of cryobiological variables that determine the responses of oocytes and embryos has been reviewed.

Conclusion(s): When oocytes and embryos are to be cryopreserved, they are suspended in a solution of one of several low-molecular-weight solutes.

New pH-buffering system for media utilized during gamete and embryo manipulations for assisted reproduction.

Maintenance of stable pH is important for optimizing gamete and embryo culture. One method to stabilize pH entails using zwitterionic buffers in IVF handling media used outside the laboratory incubator. Current handling media utilize single buffers, such as MOPS or HEPES.

ART failure: oocyte contributions to unsuccessful fertilization.

Background: The complexity of fertilization failure during assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is often under-appreciated, as this failure can occur at any number of essential mechanistic and cellular events. Importantly, successful fertilization is heavily dependent upon inherent qualities of the oocytes, and thus reliant upon fidelity of oocyte maturation.

Methods: Pubmed and medline were searched up to April 2008 for papers on oocyte fertilization and its mechanistic components.

An update on embryo culture for human assisted reproductive technology: media, performance, and safety.

Several culture medium formulations are now available for the successful production and propagation of viable human embryos. In the most popular format, nutrients are provided in a temporal sequence that matches metabolic and amino acid composition with the requirements of specific developmental stage. An alternative philosophy, that all nutritional requirements for preimplantation embryogenesis can be met with a single medium formulation, is represented in commercially available formulations as well.

Development of culture media for human assisted reproductive technology.

Contemporary culture systems in human assisted reproductive technologies meet the metabolic needs of preimplantation embryos by addressing energetic and amino acid requirements in a stage-specific manner. This approach significantly enhances viability compared with the historical use of simple salt solutions or complex somatic cell media.

Recent advances in the production of viable human embryos in vitro.

The introduction of stress to embryonic blastomeres through inappropriate culture conditions results ultimately in the loss of viability. Retention of normal metabolic function in human preimplantation embryos, as well as those of other mammalian species, has been improved by the use of stage-appropriate culture media wherein energy substrates and amino acids are provided in a temporally evolving sequence. While the time dependence of nutrient exposure to embryos has received wide attention, spatial considerations in the embryonic microenvironment have received none.