Human Reproduction

The easy access to the pelvis of infertile women by laparoscopy favours early diagnosis of endometriosis in an increasing number of subjects with minimal and mild disease. These initial forms have been associated with and considered as the …

Endometriosis is a puzzling condition and the literature is characterized by a large number of uncontrolled reports on its aetiology and pathophysiology. In particular the relationship between mild endometriosis and subfecundity is uncertai…

We recently demonstrated, using transvaginal sonography, that conception cycles in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are associated with a significantly thicker endometrium at midcycle than non-conception cycles, suggesting that endometrial grow…

This study investigated the regulatory effect of progesterone on decidual prolactin (dPRL) production during early human pregnancy (6-7 weeks). Patients (n = 7) were treated with the antiprogestin-mifepristone (RU 486; 600 mg single oral do…

A group of 50 infertile female patients was assessed laparoscopically to study the natural history of endometriosis. They were treated either with danazol (n = 21), or diathermy ablation (n = 13) or had conservative surgery with postoperati…

Controversy concerning the optimal treatment of endometriosis and its related infertility still exists. Thirty-one women with moderate and severe endometriosis, who failed to conceive during previous in-vitro fertilization and embryo transf…

Premenstrual endometrial biopsies were performed in 324 infertile women. Their hormonal status was established in the early follicular phase of the same cycle (FSH, LH, oestradiol-17 beta, testosterone, DHEAS, TSH and prolactin, the latter …

The objectives of this study were two-fold: firstly to determine whether female age exerts an influence on the fertility outcome of couples attending an infertility clinic, independent of demographic and clinical details; and secondly to ex…

In this study, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles were examined in patients with endometriosis who received gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) therapy in an effort to improve their response to stimulation. Twelve patients trea…

Dehydrogesterone (DH) induces normal endometrial secretory patterns in infertile as well as post-menopausal women, and has been successfully employed in the treatment of luteal-phase defects. The purpose of this study was to compare DH and …

Oestrogen deficiency at the menopause is associated with changes in calcium and bone metabolism. Hypo-oestrogenism induced by the use of GnRH-agonists is clinically useful in the treatment of oestrogen-dependent diseases. This study was don…

CA 125 is an antigenic determinant on a high-molecular-weight glycoprotein recognized by a monoclonal antibody which was raised using an ovarian cancer cell line as an immunogen. During the last 5 years the studies reviewed in this paper ha…

Laparoscopy was carried out on 490 infertile women whose partners had semen analyses showing a minimum of 5 X 10(6) motile spermatozoa/ml. Patients were divided into two groups using WHO criteria: those in whom the semen parameters were nor…

Ten patients suffering from endometriosis were treated with danazol at a dose of 200 mg three times daily for 6 months. A thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) test was carried out in the follicular phase before treatment, at the sixth month …

The clinical applications of GnRH and its analogues are discussed. GnRH can be used diagnostically to assess the releasable pool of LH and the status of gonadotrophin secretion. Clinically it can be used to induce follicle growth and ovulat…

The reasons for sub-fertility in patients with mild endometriosis remain unclear. Peritoneal fluid constituents may alter tubal transport and embryonic cleavage, with subsequent implantation disturbances. We used an animal model to study th…

Eighty patients with the main problems of unexplained infertility, oligospermia and endometriosis were treated with gamete intra-Fallopian transfer (GIFT). From 80 treatment cycles, 29 women conceived (36.3%). Of these, four were biochemica…

During a 5-year period, we diagnosed endometriosis by laparoscopy in 163 infertile patients (7.9% of the infertile population). Seventy-one women presented with minimal endometriosis, 32 women a mild form, 38 women a moderate form and 22 wo…

Laparoscopy was performed in 25 consecutive patients with two or more (range 2-6, mean 2.8) histologically documented first-trimester abortions in whom the well-established causes for recurrent miscarriages had been excluded. Endometriosis …

In order to evaluate the efficiency of Danazol treatment on pelvic endometriosis, a laparoscopic control with photographs was performed before treatment in 33 cases. Of these 20 were severe (group A), seven mild (group B) and six light (gro…

A long-term follow-up study of 92 patients with ovarian endometriosis treated with microsurgical techniques showed that although endometriosis may persist in many patients, only seven patients required repeat ovarian surgery. Microsurgical …

Seventeen healthy women aged 24-45 years with regular menstrual periods, proven fertility and not using steroidal contraceptives or IUD were recruited for the study. The volunteers were followed during one control, one treatment and one fol…

The outcome of a series of 115 patients undergoing GIFT by minilaparotomy is described, their duration of infertility ranging between 3 and 19 years. Ovarian stimulation was carried out using clomiphene from day 3 and HMG from day 6, and HC…

A total of 345 couples with non-tubal infertility on an IVF waiting list underwent 702 treatment cycles involving daily intrauterine inseminations of husband's washed spermatozoa (AIH) over 3 days of the periovulatory period, following ovar…