Search results for "Induction"
showing 10 items of 769 documents
Rituximab in refractory pemphigus vulgaris
2008
Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a severe chronic autoimmune blistering disease of skin and mucous membranes. The use of systemic corticosteroids in pemphigus has dramatically reduced its mortality rate, but the long-term use of steroids leads to severe side effects, many of which are serious. For this reason it is often necessary to add immunosuppressive agents to the regimen. However, there are occasional refractory cases in which therapy with conventionally accepted modalities is either not efficacious or not possible on account of side effects. Rituximab is a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting CD20, an integral membrane protein highly expressed on the surface of pre-B lymphocytes and a…
Endometrial receptivity is affected in women with high circulating progesterone levels at the end of the follicular phase: a functional genomics anal…
2011
Elevated serum progesterone levels at the end of the follicular phase in controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) leads to a poorer ongoing pregnancy rate in IVF cycles due to reduced endometrial receptivity. The objective of this study was to use microarray technology to compare endometrial gene expression profiles at the window of implantation according to the levels of circulating progesterone.For this prospective cohort study, microarray data were obtained from endometrial biopsies from 12 young healthy oocyte donors undergoing COS with pituitary suppression by either gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or antagonists, and recombinant FSH. On the day of recombinant chorionic gon…
Inter-cycle and inter-observer variability of the antral follicle count in routine clinical practice
2017
Antral follicle count (AFC) is a reliable predictor of ovarian response to stimulation and its inter-cycle and inter-observer variability has been extensively studied on in vitro fertilization (IVF), mostly in highly selected populations within studies not originally designed for this purpose. In this retrospective cohort study, we assess the inter-cycle variation of AFC in a setting similar to that of the daily practice. We included only patients undergoing mild stimulation for intrauterine insemination (IUI). One hundred and forty-eight patients had two (62 patients, group A), three (49 patients, group B) or four (37 patients, group C) IUI cycles and AFC was measured on early follicular p…
Prospective Parallel Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy Controlled Clinical Trial Comparing Clomiphene Citrate and Metformin as the First-Line Tr…
2005
Abstract Context: Although metformin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of anovulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), clomiphene citrate (CC) is still considered to be the first-line drug to induce ovulation in these patients. Objective: The goal of this study was to compare the effectiveness of metformin and CC administration as a first-line treatment in anovulatory women with PCOS. Design: We describe a prospective parallel randomized, double-blind, double-dummy controlled clinical trial. Setting: The study was conducted at the University “Magna Graecia” of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy. Patients: One hundred nonobese primary infertile anovulatory women with PC…
Clinical comparison of extracorporeal piezoelectric lithotripsy (EPL) and intracorporeal electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) in difficult bile duct st…
1995
Today, nearly 90% of common bile duct stones are extracted endoscopically. Problems are encountered if there are large stones or a duct stenosis. Extracorporeal piezoelectric lithotripsy (EPL) as well as intracorporeal electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) serve as an alternative to surgical intervention for those few patients in whom endoscopic measures have failed. A total of 35 patients with common bile duct stones in whom conventional endoscopic treatment had failed were selected on the condition that stone visualization through ultrasound was possible and that the papilla was within easy reach of the endoscope. Patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were randomly treated either by EPL…
Circulating progesterone levels and ongoing pregnancy rates in controlled ovarian stimulation cycles for in vitro fertilization: analysis of over 400…
2010
background: The influence of elevated serum progesterone levels during in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ ICSI) cycles on pregnancy rates is a matter of continued debate among fertility clinicians. Efforts to resolve this question have been impeded by the various assays used to measure progesterone and the different, arbitrary threshold values for defining ‘high’ progesterone levels. methods: A non-interventional, retrospective, observational, single-centre cohort study evaluated the relationship between serum progesterone levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) administration and the ongoing pregnancy rate in 4032 patients undergoing IVF/ICSI cyc…
Data comparison between pharmacological induction of labour and spontaneous delivery. A single centre experience.
2016
Objectives: To assess the differences in the maternal and fetal outcomes between pharmacological induced and spontaneous labour in nulliparous women. Material and methods: Observational cohort study carried out over a period of 2 years. Inclusion criteria: nulliparous singleton pregnancies, with cephalic fetal presentation, elective labour induction with intra-vaginal prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) gel (Prepidil® 2 mg) at a gestational age of 41 weeks. Control group: patients who entered labour spontaneously at a gestational age of ≥ 40 weeks. The main demographic maternal characteristics and intra- and postpartum data were extracted from computer records and obstetrics diaries and were used for…
Hormonal and molecular characterization of follicular fluid, cumulus cells and oocytes from pre-ovulatory follicles in stimulated and unstimulated cy…
2012
background: The use of ovarian stimulation, to stimulate a multi-follicular response for assisted reproduction treatments, may force the production of oocytes from follicles that do not reach optimal maturation, possibly yielding oocytes that are not fully competent. The present study aimed to define the follicular environment and oocyte competence of unstimulated pre-ovulatory follicles, to compare it with that of similar-sized stimulated follicles. For this purpose, we analyzed the follicular hormonal milieu, the oocyte meiotic spindle, the embryo development and the cumulus cells gene expression (GE) profiles. methods and results: The study population was divided in two groups: (i) 42 oo…
The follicular hormonal profile in low-responder patients undergoing unstimulated cycles: is it hypoandrogenic?
2012
STUDY QUESTION What is the final hormonal milieu of pre-ovulatory follicles of low-responder (LR) patients undergoing unstimulated cycles? SUMMARY ANSWER Neither androgen secretion nor LH was impaired in pre-ovulatory follicles of LR women. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Therapies currently used to improve ovarian response in LR women have an impact on the final hormonal follicular milieu, and these changes are believed to be partially responsible for determining the success rate in these women. Surprisingly, as far as we know, there is no report of the final hormonal profile of LR women undergoing unstimulated cycles or evidence that follicular androgen secretion in LR women is impaired. STUDY DESI…
Influence of the ovary on parameters of LH secretion during the recovery from buserelin-induced desensitization
1994
Abstract This study examined the effect of the ovary on LH pulsatility and on the secretory performance of gonadotrophes during the phase of recovery after treatment with buserelin, a GnRH analogue. We included 12 patients, who received buserelin (1.2 mg/day, intranasally for 3 months) as a reductive therapy for uterine leiomyomatosis prior to hysterectomy. Six patients were oophorectomized and the other 6 patients had their ovaries preserved. LH was measured in samples taken basally up to 36 days after suppression of buserelin. LH pulsatility was studied on day 9 along a 24-h cycle, and the response of the hormone to a double-stimulus GnRH test on days 0, 9, 20, and 34. The concentration o…