High responders are not exempt from detrimental effects of prematurely rising progesterone levels in fresh embryo transfer cycles.

RESEARCH QUESTION: Are high-responder IVF patients protected from the deleterious effect of prematurely elevated serum progesterone level on the probability of pregnancy? DESIGN: In this retrospective cohort study, 2971 autologous fresh embryo transfer IVF cycles with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist long protocol were analysed to investigate whether the detrimental effect of prematurely rising progesterone levels on clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) varies depending on the magnitude of ovarian response. Nine different evenly spaced intervals were constructed for serum progesterone level on the human chorionic gonadotrophin day (<0.5/0.5-0.9/1-1.4/1.5-1.9/2-2.4/2.5-2.9/3-3.4/3.5-3.9/>4 ng/ml). Then, IVF cycles in each of these intervals were further divided into low (≤3 oocytes), normal (4-15 oocytes) and high responders (≥16 oocytes). RESULTS: The progressive rise of serum progesterone from the <0.5 to the >4 ng/ml interval caused a gradual and continuous decline in the CPR of all three types of ovarian response. The absolute difference in the CPR between the lowest and the highest progesterone groups was not related to the magnitude of ovarian response (-26.6%, -37.7% and -40.7% for the low, normal and high responders, respectively). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, the detrimental effect of progesterone started at 1.5-1.9 ng/ml, 3.0-3.4 ng/ml and 4.0-4.4 ng/ml intervals for the low, normal and high responders, respectively. CONCLUSION: High responders are not exempt from the detrimental effects of prematurely rising serum progesterone levels but the threshold interval where the detrimental effect begins is higher in the high responders compared with the low and normal responders.

Surgical correction of T-shaped uteri in women with reproductive failure: Long term anatomical and reproductive outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long term anatomical and reproductive outcomes of hysteroscopic treatment for T shaped uterus in patients presenting with reproductive failure. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 56 patients with a history of long-standing unexplained infertility, recurrent implantation failure (RIF), and/or recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) who were eligible for metroplasty by office hysteroscopy. Office hysteroscopy under conscious sedation was performed. Anatomical outcomes were assessed with pre- and postoperative measurements of the transostial, isthmic and myometrial diameters and the uterine volume using three-dimensional transvaginal sonography (3D-TVS). Reproductive outcome was assessed after spontaneous or assisted conception. RESULTS: Hysteroscopic treatment significantly increased the volume of the uterus from a mean of 2.5+1mL before surgery to 3.2±1mL by the end of 1 year as measured by 3D-TVS. According to the main indication to perform metroplasty, 20 of 32 (62.5%) patients with long standing unexplained infertility, 9 of 14 (64%) patients with RIF, and 8 of 10 (80%) patients with RPL conceived either spontaneously or with assisted reproduction. CONCLUSIONS: Office hysteroscopic metroplasty results in a significant long-term expansion of the uterine cavity and improved reproductive outcomes in women presenting with a T shaped uterus and poor reproductive history.

Utilization of the Bologna criteria: a promise unfulfilled? A review of published and unpublished/ongoing trials.

OBJECTIVE: To study the use of the Bologna criteria (BC) for the definition of poor ovarian responders (POR) in clinical practice and research. DESIGN: Systematic review of published and unpublished/ongoing trials between January 2012 and August 2017 on POR. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): Not applicable. INTERVENTION(S): The databases were searched using the relevant medical subject headings including all subheadings. The search was limited to humans and English language. The references of the included studies were cross-searched for possibly missed articles. Only clinical trials providing an evidence level ≥ III were included. Case reports, review, letters, and hypothetical articles were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Extracted studies were divided into two groups: studies in which the BC were used or not. RESULT(S): One hundred nine published clinical studies analyzing a total of 30,540 women and 112 unpublished/ongoing trials were identified. The BC were used to define POR in 56 (51%) of the published and 44 (39%) of the unpublished trials. The use of the BC gradually increased from 29% to 53% from 2012 to 2017. Asian researchers were more likely to use the BC compared with European and North American researchers (65%, 49%, and 23%, respectively). Neither the design of the study nor the impact factor of the publishing journal was correlated with the use of the BC. CONCLUSION(S): There is still reluctance to use the BC for the definition of POR, which makes it difficult to combine data from small studies and reach a meaningful conclusion.