Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of an additional administration of recombinant luteinizing hormone (r-LH) to a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) long protocol using recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (r-FSH). In particular we determined whether such a stimulation protocol would be more effective in women (1) who respond poorly to stimulation with GnRHa long protocol using r-FSH only, and (2) whose LH concentrations after down-regulation in the cancelled cycle were low but above the values reported in the literature to be sufficient for folliculogenesis. After GnRHa desensitization 150 IU r-FSH and 75 IU r-LH were administered subcutaneously daily to six normogonadotropic women with low response to ovarian hyperstimulation using a GnRHa long protocol with r-FSH and low LH concentrations after down-regulation in the cancelled cycle. All six women had an oocyte retrieval and an embryo transfer after follicular stimulation. One women conceived but had a miscarriage in the eleventh week of gestation. Our results suggest that women with low response to a GnRHa long protocol with r-FSH, and whose LH concentration after down-regulation in the cancelled cycles were low, benefit from the additional administration of r-LH in a GnRHa long protocol using r-FSH. It seems that due to the additional administration of r-LH the LH concentration in the follicular phase is sufficient to support folliculogenesis.
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Notes on contributors
J. C. Huber
Joyce Laing works in the Department of Child and Family Psychiatry, Playfield House, Cupar, Fife, and is a Consultant Art Therapist to Psychiatric Hospitals and Prisons and Chairwoman of the Scottish Society of Art and Psychology.