Human Reproduction, Vol. 14, No. 10, 2665-2668,
October 1999
© 1999 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Preliminary experience of the use of a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist in ovulation induction/in-vitro fertilization prior to cancer treatment: Case Report
1 MRC Reproductive Biology Unit and 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Centre for Reproductive Biology, University of Edinburgh, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9ET, UK
Therapeutic regimens for the treatment of malignant disease may compromise future fertility. One approach to circumvent this is the cryopreservation of embryos created before treatment for the malignancy. Conventional regimens using gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are time consuming, requiring pituitary down-regulation before gonadotrophin administration, thus the duration of treatment is ~2030 days. GnRH antagonists, however, do not cause an initial stimulation of gonadotrophin secretion and can thus be administered during the later stages of follicular maturation to prevent premature luteinization and ovulation. The duration of ovulation induction/in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment is thus reduced. In this study, case histories are reported of six women with newly diagnosed malignancies who requested ovulation induction/IVF prior to chemotherapy or surgery in which we have used the GnRH antagonist Cetrorelix. Gonadotrophin administration was started in the early follicular phase, and Cetrorelix (0.25 mg s.c. daily) was added from day 6 of treatment. Subsequent to human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) administration oocytes were recovered and successful fertilization and embryo cryopreservation was achieved in all cases. The median duration of treatment was 12 days (range 813, including induction of luteolysis in two patients). These results illustrate the potential use and advantages of a GnRH antagonist in ovulation induction/IVF when the need for immediate initiation of treatment and its duration are critical factors.
Key words: cancer/GnRH antagonist/IVF/ovulation induction
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed
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