Chang CL, Chin TH, Hsu YC, Hsueh AJ. Whole ovary
laparoscopic incisions improve hormonal response and fertility in extremely poor ovarian response patients.
J Minim Invasive Gynecol 2022;
29:905-914. [PMID:
35489579 DOI:
10.1016/j.jmig.2022.04.011]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/24/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE
Recent findings have shown mechanical fragmentation of ovarian cortex and ovarian drilling could promote follicle growth in patients with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and polycystic ovarian syndrome, respectively. A common element shared by these treatments is the mechanical disturbance of ovarian extracellular matrix (ECM) tissues. We thus hypothesized a simplified whole ovary laparoscopic incision (WOLI) procedure may provide the intrinsic stimuli needed to activate resting follicles in extremely poor ovarian response (EPOR) patients who had negligible chance of becoming pregnant with their own oocytes via modern IVF practice.
DESIGN
Retrospective pilot study SETTING: The study was conducted in a research medical center in Taiwan.
PATIENTS
Women who had multiple canceled ovarian stimulation cycles due to the lack of follicle growth were recruited. A total of 6 EPOR patients received the WOLI procedure, which covers the whole surface of ovaries, in 2015-2017.
INTERVENTIONS
After receiving an outpatient WOLI procedure, ovarian response and follicle growth were monitored for 90 days with or without gonadotropin stimulation. Embryo quality and clinical outcomes were analyzed.
MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Following the WOLI treatment, 5 out of 6 patients had significant increases in serum estradiol level and improved follicle growth (p = 0.000537). Multiple oocytes were retrieved from each of these patients, and it led to thawed embryo transfer cycles in four patients (p = 0.010). On average, the duration from the WOLI procedure to the first ovum pickup was 24 days (11-58 days). Following embryo transfer, two patients became pregnant and delivered healthy babies. Two other patients received embryo transfer, and one led to a chemical pregnancy. One patient had cryopreserved embryos with pending transfer.
CONCLUSION
The standardizable WOLI procedure restored hormonal responses in a majority of EPOR patients. Further validation of this novel and yet simple laparoscopic procedure, which requires only one laparoscopic surgery, may provide a practical option to reactivate the aging ovarian environment in EPOR and POI patients.
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