Abstract
Ovarian stimulation by human gonadotropins for induction of ovulation in anovulatory infertile patients has been in wide clinical use since the early 1970s. Some ten years later, gonadotropin therapy has been applied to obtain superovulation in spontaneous ovulators within the framework of IVF/ET programs. Many years ago1 it was shown that ovarian stimulation by exogenous gonadotropins is much more effective and produces significantly more take home babies in amenorrheic women with low endogenous gonadotropins and estrogens (WHO Group I) than in anovulatory patients having some spontaneous, albeit derranged, pituitary and ovarian activity (WHO Group II). It has also become clear that the results and complications of gonadotropin stimulation (i.e. pregnancy rates, hyperstimulation incidence) are similar in anovulatory patients of Group II and in women subjected to IVF. The overall success rate in both types of treatment is 15%–20%,2,3 while in amenorrheic women of WHO Group I pregnancy rates of over 80% have been steadily achieved.4 It seems therefore that the presence of an active pituitary-ovarian axis represents a burden rather than an asset in the course of ovulation (or superovulation) induction.
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© 1990 Plenum Press, New York
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Insler, V., Lunenfeld, E., Potashnik, G., Levy, J. (1990). The Combined Pituitary Suppression/Ovarian Stimulation Therapy: Myths and Realities. In: Mashiach, S., Ben-Rafael, Z., Laufer, N., Schenker, J.G. (eds) Advances in Assisted Reproductive Technologies. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0645-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0645-0_3
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