OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of aromatase inhibitor (AI) for ovulation induction in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients with thin endometrium, hyper-responsiveness after clomiphene citrate (CC) treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective study was performed in 43 PCOS patients (50 cycles) with ovulatory dysfunction between March 2004 and September 2004. AI group (total 36 cycles) included the patients 1) with thin endometrium below 6 mm on hCG day after CC (n=17), 2) with more than 5 ovulatory follicles after 50mg of CC (n=4), 3) who do not want multiple pregnancy (n=14). Patients were treated with Letrozole 2.5mg for days 3 to 7 of the menstrual cycle. CC group (total 14 cycles) were treated with CC 50~100 mg. RESULTS: In PCOS patients, ovulation was occurred 97.2% after AI use. Between AI group and CC group, there was no significant difference in the mean age, duration of infertility, interval of menstruation, basal FSH, prior treatment cycles, and the day of hCG administration. But, the number of mature follicles (> or =15 mm) was lower in the AI group (1.08+/-0.45 vs. 1.64+/-0.75) (p=0.018), and the thickness of endometrium (mm) was significantly thicker in the AI group (10.35+/-1.74 vs. 9.23+/-1.61) (p=0.044), and E2 (pg/ml) concentration on hCG day was lower in the AI group (116.9+/-75.8 vs. 479.5+/-300.8) (p=0.001). Among the AI group, patients with prior thin endometrium (below 6 mm) during CC treatment showed 10.6+/-1.6 mm in the endometrial thickness and 106.6+/-66.8 pg/ml in E2 concentration. Patients with more than 5 ovulatory follicles after CC showed decreased follicle number (1.25+/-0.5) compared to prior CC cycle. CONCLUSIONS: In PCOS patients, AI group showed significantly thicker endometrium, lesser number of mature follicles, and lower E2 concentration on hCG day than CC group. AI might be useful alternative treatment for ovulation induction in PCOS patients with thin endometrium and hyper-responsiveness after CC treatment.
Aromatase* ; Clomiphene* ; Endometrium ; Female ; Humans ; Infertility ; Menstrual Cycle ; Menstruation ; Ovulation ; Ovulation Induction ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Multiple ; Prospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study are to evaluate the obstetric outcome in pregnancies resulting from oocyte donation and to assess the factors related to the obstetric complications. METHODS: The obstetric outcome in pregnancies from the oocyte donation (n=37) was compared with that in pregnancies from conventional IVF program (n=137) in our IVF center between January 1995 and December 2000. Control group was selected by age, parity, and order of gestation matched to the study group. Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) was defined as blood pressure >140/90 mmHg on two or more occasions at least 6 hours apart with or without proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation and not associated with chronic hypertension. Small for gestational age (SGA) was defined as birth weight below tenth percentile for gestational weeks. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS: Early pregnancy loss rates were 37.8% (14/37) and 23.4% (32/137) in study and control group, respectively (P>0.05). PIH related factors such as mean age, parity and order of gestation were not significantly different among the two groups. However, the incidence of PIH in oocyte donation group (30.0%, 6/20) was significantly higher than control group (8.8%,9/102). There was no significant difference in the incidence of SGA between the two groups. When oocyte donation group was stratified by relationship of oocyte donor to infertile patient (sibling versus non-sibling), the incidence of early pregnancy loss and PIH was significantly higher (chi square test, P<0.05) in non-sibling group (42.3%, 11/26; 38.5%, 5/13) than in control group (23.4%, 32/137; 8.8%, 9/102). CONCLUSION: The incidence of PIH was significantly higher in pregnancies after oocyte donation. Notably, the pregnancies from non-sibling oocyte donors had much higher incidence of early pregnancy loss and PIH than pregnancies from sibling oocyte donors or control group. Therefore, the occurrence of early pregnancy loss and PIH may be related to other factors than age, parity or multiple pregnancy.
Birth Weight ; Blood Pressure ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced ; Incidence ; Oocyte Donation* ; Oocytes* ; Parity ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Multiple ; Primary Ovarian Insufficiency* ; Proteinuria ; Siblings ; Social Sciences ; Tissue Donors

OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to evaluate the obstetric and perinatal outcomes of women with unexplained infertility following assisted reproductive technology (ART). METHODS: From January 1999 to February 2002, a total of seventy-nine singleton pregnancies which progressed beyond 20 weeks gestation following embryo transfer in women finally diagnosed as unexplained infertility by diagnostic laparoscopy were enrolled in this study. The matched control was spontaneously conceived 172 singleton pregnancies. Retrospectively, we analyzed the obstetric outcome and compared gestational age at delivery, birth weight, Apgar score, and the incidence of perinatal mortality, preterm labor, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, and oligohydramnios between two groups. RESULTS: The mean gestational duration of study group was shorter than control group (38.2 +/- 0.5 vs. 39.4 +/- 0.1 weeks, p=0.001). The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus was significantly higher in the study group (7.6% vs. 1.2%, p=0.01). There was no significant difference in the mean birth weight (3088.1 +/- 86.1 g vs. 3243.8 +/- 37.2 g), the incidence of small for gestational age (10.1% vs. 11.6%), preeclampsia (3.8% vs. 2.3%), oligohydramnios (3.8% vs. 5.8%), preterm labor (7.6% vs. 5.2%), cesarean delivery (45.6% vs. 41.3%), and perinatal mortality (1.3% vs. 0.6%) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The gestational duration of women with unexplained infertility after IVF-ET was shorter, but the incidence of preterm birth was not increased. And the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus of study group was higher than that of spontaneously conceived pregnancies.
Apgar Score ; Birth Weight ; Diabetes, Gestational ; Embryo Transfer ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infertility* ; Laparoscopy ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Oligohydramnios ; Perinatal Mortality ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy ; Premature Birth ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted* ; Retrospective Studies

The heart disease during gestation complicates approximately 0.5-1.5% of pregnancies. The common cause of heart disease during gestation is acquired rheumatic valvular lesions and congenital heart defects. In contrast, infective endocarditis during pregnancy or the puerperium is quite rare, with fewer than 100 cases reported over the past 50 years. We present a case of bacterial endocarditis complicated by severe tricuspid valvular insufficiency and associated septic pulmonary emboli. Therapy consisted of cesarean section at 32 weeks gestation followed by tricuspid valvular replacement, removal of vegetation and primary closure of congenital ventricular septal defect.
Cesarean Section ; Endocarditis ; Endocarditis, Bacterial* ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the difference of implantation rate (IR) and clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) between two protocols of endometrial preperation in women undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. METHODS: This study was performed during the different time periods: A retrospective study from January 2000 to June 2001 (phase I) and a prospective study from July 2001 to March 2002 (phase II). All the patients received estradiol valerate (6 mg p.o. daily) starting from day 1 or 2 of the menstrual cycle without pituitary down regulation. Progesterone was administered around day 14 after sonographic confirmation of endometrial thickness > or = 7 mm and no growing follicle. In Group A (n=88, 99 cycles) of phase I, progesterone was administered i.m. at a dose of 50 mg daily from one day prior to thawing of pronuclear (PN) stage frozen embryo or three days prior to thawing of 6-8 cell stage frozen embryo and then each stage embryos were trasnsferred 2 days or 1 day later after thawing. In Group B (n=246, 299 cycles) of phase I, patients recieved progesterone 100 mg i.m. from one day earlier than group A; two days prior to PN embryo thawing, four days prior to of 6-8 cell embryo thawing. During the phase II, to exclude any differences in embryo transfer procedures, in Group 1 (n=23, 28 cycles) of phase II embryo was transfered by one who have used the progesterone protocol since the phase I. In Group 2 (n=122, 139 cycles) of phase II embryo was transfered by one who use the progesterone protocol from the phase II. RESULTS: When compared across the phase and group, there were no significant differences in the characteristics. During the phase I, there were significant increase in IR (14.4% vs 5.9%, p=0.001) and CPR (28.3% vs 14.5%, p=0.000) in group A. During the phases II, IR (11.8% vs 10.6%) and CPR (27.6% vs 27.3%) show no differences between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: In FET cycles, IR and CPR are increased significantly by the change of dosage and timing of progesterone administraton. And the timing is considered to be more important factor because the dosage of progesterone did not affect implantation window in previous studies. Therefore, we suggest that progesterone administration in FET cycle should begin from one day prior to PN stage embryo thawing and three days prior to 6-8 cell stage embryo thawing.
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ; Down-Regulation ; Embryo Transfer* ; Embryonic Structures* ; Estradiol ; Female ; Humans ; Menstrual Cycle ; Pregnancy Rate* ; Pregnancy* ; Progesterone* ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the difference in gene expression related to carcinogenesis between HPV 16 positive squamous cell carcinoma and HPV 16 positive adenocarcinoma of cervix. METHODS: We used cDNA microarray technology to identify alterations in gene expression of human cervical cancers. Gene expression of three cell lines, CaSki and SiHa (HPV 16 positive squamous cell carcinoma) and HeLa (HPV 16 positive adenocarcinoma) were compared with HT3 (HPV 16 negative squamous cell carcinoma). The microarray contains twin spots for 344 cancer-associated genes. RESULTS: The analysis showed several interesting findings: (1) In all three squamous cell lines, CD4, CSF1, MMP15 and TNFR6 were increased, whereas SLC3A2 were decreased, (2) Only in adenocarcinoma cell line HeLa, CDC25A, CDK2, CDK9, IL2, PF4, MAD, FCER2, MAP4K1 and MS4A1 were increased, and PLAU, IL8, IL9R and ATK were decreased. (3) In both squamous cell carcinoma cell lines CaSki and SiHa, 61 genes which belong to chemokine, cell cycle, growth factor, interleukin, adhesion molecule, protein kinase and TNF were increased, whereas 10 genes which are associated with apoptosis and cytokine were increased only in SiHa, and 97 genes which are associated with a variety of cell functions were increased only in CaSki. CONCLUSION: We suggest that there might be common, but also different carcinogenic mechanisms involved in HPV 16 related cervical cancers according to the histologic subtypes and different tumors.
Adenocarcinoma ; Apoptosis ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line* ; Cervix Uteri ; DNA, Complementary* ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Human papillomavirus 16 ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-8 ; Interleukins ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis* ; Protein Kinases ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the efficacy of low-dose aspirin and prednisolone supplementation in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS: From 1 July 2001 to 31 July 2002, A total of 306 cycles from 306 patients who attended infertility clinic at Samsung Cheil Hospital was enrolled in this study. With pituitary desensitization in a short gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist protocol, recombinant FSH (Puregon, Organon, Netherlands) was administered for ovarian stimulation, until the largest follicle had a mean diameter > 18 mm and at least two other follicles with a diameter of 16 mm. In study group (128 cycles), low dose aspirin (100 mg/day) and prednisolone (5 mg/day) were administered from COH starting day to post-oocyte retrieval 12th day. The COH protocol of control group (178 cycles) was same as study group, except no additional supplementation. Retrospectively, we analysed ovarian response and outcome of IVF cycles. RESULTS: The demographic characteristics of two groups were not different. E2 on hCG day (2408.3+/-1375.4 pg/ml vs 2232.3+/-1305.1 pg/ml: p=0.261), number of retrieved oocytes (13.1+/-9.1 vs 12.5+/-8.8: p=0.680), number of good embryos transferred (3.0+/-2.5 vs 2.9+/-2.0) were not different significantly between two groups. hCG positive rate (52.3% vs 43.3%: p=0.116), biochemical pregnancy rate (23.9% vs 15.6%: p=0.224), clinical pregnancy rate (39.8% vs 36.5%: p=0.629), and clinical abortion rate (10.4% vs 6.5%: p=0.392) were not different significantly either. hCG positive rate (56.1% vs 44.7%: p=0.079) shows a increasing tendency in study group, younger than 35 years old. In study group, older than 36 years old or basal FSH > 10 mIU/ml, there were no significant improvement of ovarian response and prgnancy rate. CONCLUSION: Low dose aspirin and prednisolone supplementation in routine IVF patients shows no significant improvement in ovarian response, pregnancy rate, and implantation rate. Also, in poor ovarian responder, this supplementation shows no benefits.
Abortion, Induced ; Adult ; Aspirin* ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Infertility ; Oocytes ; Ovulation Induction ; Prednisolone* ; Pregnancy Rate ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether diagnostic laparoscopy before transcervical fallopian tube catheterization (TFTC) would improve tubal recanalization rate and pregnancy rate in patients with bilateral proximal tubal blockage in hysterosalpingogram (HSG). METHODS: The retrospective study was performed in those underwent TFTC from January 1998 to December 2001. A total of 50 patients with bilateral proximal tubal blockage in HSG were subjected to TFTC sequentially using repeated HSG (rHSG), selective salpingography (SS) followed by tubal catheterization (TFTC). Each procedure was terminated once patency had been achieved without proceding to the next technique. In Group A patients (n=35, 64 tubes), diagnostic laparoscopy was performed before TFTC was taken to exclude the tube combined with peritubal adhesion or distal tubal pathology. In Group B, patients (n=15, 26 tubes) were performed TFTC without diagnostic laparoscopy. RESULTS: There were significant difference in clinical pregnancy rate (45.7% vs 15.4%, p=0.034) but no differences were found in recanalization rate (75.0% vs 73.1%) and complication rate (8.6% vs 13.3%). Although there is no signficant difference, more tubes were canalized by SS, which means tubal obstruction rather than occlusion, in Group A (25.0% vs 5.3%, p=0.069). CONCLUSION: Diagnostic laparoscopy would be effective in the selection of tube for the relatively inexpensive and less invasive TFTC or patients in need of assisted reproductive technologies. With the tubes without combined peritubal adhesion or distal tubal pathology, pregnancy rate was significantly increased.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Fallopian Tube Diseases ; Fallopian Tubes* ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterosalpingography ; Infertility* ; Laparoscopy* ; Pathology ; Pregnancy Rate ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether diagnostic laparoscopy before transcervical fallopian tube catheterization (TFTC) would improve tubal recanalization rate and pregnancy rate in patients with bilateral proximal tubal blockage in hysterosalpingogram (HSG). METHODS: The retrospective study was performed in those underwent TFTC from January 1998 to December 2001. A total of 50 patients with bilateral proximal tubal blockage in HSG were subjected to TFTC sequentially using repeated HSG (rHSG), selective salpingography (SS) followed by tubal catheterization (TFTC). Each procedure was terminated once patency had been achieved without proceding to the next technique. In Group A patients (n=35, 64 tubes), diagnostic laparoscopy was performed before TFTC was taken to exclude the tube combined with peritubal adhesion or distal tubal pathology. In Group B, patients (n=15, 26 tubes) were performed TFTC without diagnostic laparoscopy. RESULTS: There were significant difference in clinical pregnancy rate (45.7% vs 15.4%, p=0.034) but no differences were found in recanalization rate (75.0% vs 73.1%) and complication rate (8.6% vs 13.3%). Although there is no signficant difference, more tubes were canalized by SS, which means tubal obstruction rather than occlusion, in Group A (25.0% vs 5.3%, p=0.069). CONCLUSION: Diagnostic laparoscopy would be effective in the selection of tube for the relatively inexpensive and less invasive TFTC or patients in need of assisted reproductive technologies. With the tubes without combined peritubal adhesion or distal tubal pathology, pregnancy rate was significantly increased.
Catheterization ; Catheters ; Fallopian Tube Diseases ; Fallopian Tubes* ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterosalpingography ; Infertility* ; Laparoscopy* ; Pathology ; Pregnancy Rate ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the efficacy of recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (rFSH) versus highly purified urinary human FSH (uFSH) in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS: From 1 January 2001 to 31 August 2001, A total of 254 cycles from 241 patients who attended infertility clinic at Samsung cheil hospital was enrolled in this study. With pituitary down regulation using GnRH agonist by short protocol, rFSH (Puregon(R), Organon, Netherlands) was administered in 131 cycles and uFSH (Metrodin-HP(R), Serono, Switzerland) was administered in 123 cycles. We analyzed ovarian response, pregnancy rate, live birth rate, oocyte quality and embryo quality. RESULTS: The clinical characteristics of two groups were not different. Total FSH dosages (1322.3+/-526.2 IU versus 2124.4+/-881.9 IU, p<0.001) and dosages per retrieved oocyte (90.6+/-36.0 IU versus 138.0+/-57.2 IU, p<0.001) were significantly lower in rFSH group than uFSH group. Clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate of two groups were not significantly different. The rate of good quality oocyte (Grade I and II) from retrieved oocytes was higher in rFSH group (68.2% versus 64.8%, p=0.024), but after preincubating oocytes for 4 to 6 hours and removing cumulus cells in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles, nuclear maturity of oocytes were not significantly different. The quality of transferred embryos were not significantly different too. CONCLUSION: rFSH offered more effective ovarian response in COH and better quality of retrieved oocytes, compared with uFSH.
Cumulus Cells ; Down-Regulation ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures* ; Female ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Human* ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Humans* ; Infertility ; Live Birth ; Oocytes* ; Pregnancy Rate ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Urofollitropin