[Successful PMA. Review of the activities of the Center for Medically Assisted Procreation of University of Liege, 1985-1997]. / La PMA qui réussit Bilan d'activité du Centre de Procréation Médicalement assistée de l'ULg, 1985-1997.

Assisted reproductive treatments (ART) hold an increasing place in the field of female infertility but also of male infertility with the development of new micromanipulative technologies. From January 1985 to December 1997, more than 3,000 ovarian punctures were achieved at the CPMA of the University of Liege and more than 40,000 oocytes were recovered. Global results show a take home baby rate of 23% per ovum pick-up and 27% per embryo transfer. Embryo cryopreservation offers an efficient solution to the problem of supernumerary embryos and opens the way for IVF-derived procedures such as oocyte or embryo donation, surrogate mother. The transfer of frozen-thawed embryos increases the total ongoing pregnancy rate per cycle of 31%. One of the aims of our Centre in the near future is the development of new technologies such as control of chromosomal abnormalities or genetic defect in preimplantation embryos and clinical applications of oocyte or ovarian tissue freezing.

Successful treatment of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis with progestins: a case report.

The diagnostic approach, clinical evolution, and treatment of a patient with primary pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis are reported. This patient presented a restrictive respiratory syndrome resistant to conventional glucocorticoid therapy. The diagnosis, based on clinical and histologic examinations, was confirmed by immunohistochemical localization of one of the desmins, the smooth muscle cell actin, and HMB45 antigen. The patient received treatment with an anti-estrogenic agent (tamoxifen citrate) and high doses of medroxyprogesterone acetate, an antigonadotropic progestin. Respiratory function improved rapidly with clinical relief.

Estradiol and progesterone regulate the proliferation of human breast epithelial cells.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of estradiol and progesterone on the proliferation of normal human breast epithelial cells in vivo. DESIGN: Double-blind randomized study. SETTING: Departments of gynecology and of cell biology at a university hospital. PATIENT(S): Forty postmenopausal women with untreated menopause and documented plasma FSH levels of >30 mIU/mL and estradiol levels of <20 pg/mL. INTERVENTION(S): Daily topical application to both breasts of a gel containing a placebo, estradiol, progesterone, or a combination of estradiol and progesterone during the 14 days preceding esthetic breast surgery or excision of a benign lesion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Plasma and breast tissue concentrations of estradiol and progesterone. Epithelial cell cycles were evaluated in normal breast tissue by counting mitoses and performing quantitative proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunolabeling analyses. RESULT(S): Increasing the estradiol concentration enhanced the number of cycling epithelial cells, whereas increasing the progesterone concentration significantly limited the number of cycling epithelial cells. CONCLUSION(S): Exposure to progesterone for 14 days reduced the estradiol-induced proliferation of normal breast epithelial cells in vivo.