Editor's Choice
E-mail: vansteirteghema{at}humanreproduction.co.uk
We are now only a month away from this year's annual ESHRE meeting, being held in Amsterdam from 28 June–1 July. As last year, the Editors and Editorial Teams of the three ESHRE Journals are organizing an "ESHRE Journals Course for Authors" (Pre-congress Course 11). I very much hope to meet some of you there.
In this issue, senior experts in endometriosis make a plea that all registered and completed phase II/III clinical trials on endometriosis should be published. Their study revealed that results of only 3 out of the 15 identified completed trials had thus far been published. As Editor, I hope that this call for transparency will encourage investigators to publish the results of completed trials and Human Reproduction certainly welcomes these submissions (p. 1247).
The ninth report of the European Infertility Monitoring (EIM) Consortium of ESHRE reports the 2005 results of assisted reproductive technology and intrauterine insemination. Most of the results from 30 countries come from existing national registries. Compared with previous years, more treatment cycles are reported. Outcome parameters are similar to the last published results. In a few countries with high percentage of elective single-embryo transfer policy, the percentage of twins is around 10% but the overall twinning rate is still 21%, which is too high (p. 1267).
First trimester screening for Down syndrome by the combination of measurement of nuchal translucency thickness, free β-hCG and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) was compared in 1739 ART- and 50 253 naturally conceived pregnancies. Reduced PAPP-A concentrations in ART pregnancies lead to more false-positive results and more chorionic villous sampling or amniocentesis. These results emphasize the importance of pre- and post-test counseling for women carrying ART pregnancies (p. 1330).
Most IVF outcome publications describe results of individual programs. Using a model, the results of IVF at a population level were studied. The model simulates what happens when three cycles of IVF were given to 100 000 women trying to conceive a first and a second child over a 12-month period; comparison is made between no IVF and IVF offered after 1 or 3 years of infertility. Total fertility rate increases substantially when IVF is offered after 3 years and even more so when offered after just 1 year. Current practice of IVF includes the iatrogenic complications, mostly multiple pregnancies, which can only be reduced if elective single-embryo transfer is widely applied. Although IVF is primarily to solve the problems of infertility in individual couples, its application on a population level should only be used if it includes an effective reduction of multiple gestations and deliveries (p. 1414).
In contrast to endometrial sampling, the aspiration of endometrial secretion is a non-disruptive procedure and the analysis of these secretions may be useful in the study of endometrial–embryonic interactions. Cytokine profiling of these secretions, aspirated immediately prior to embryo transfer, identified a profile which is correlated with implantation and a clinically recognized pregnancy (p. 1427).
In an important contribution to male reproductive biology, immunohistological, molecular and functional assays were used to characterize different populations of spermatogonial stem cells in the rhesus monkey testis. Cell sorting, immunohistochemistry and germ cell transplantation are combined to further identify the ‘real’ testicular stem cell in the primate testis (p. 1480).
The possibility of using interphase FISH as a diagnostic tool in preimplantation genetic diagnosis in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 or Von Hippel-Lindau cancer predisposition syndromes is described for the first time. Provided that a suitable probe can be found for the specific deletion, it appears to be a straightforward and elegant way to make the diagnosis (p. 1522).
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Related articles in Hum. Reprod.:
- A call for more transparency of registered clinical trials on endometriosis
- Sun-Wei Guo, Lone Hummelshoj, David L. Olive, Serdar E. Bulun, Thomas M. D'Hooghe, and Johannes L.H. Evers
Hum. Reprod. 2009 24: 1247-1254.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Assisted reproductive technology and intrauterine inseminations in Europe, 2005: results generated from European registers by ESHRE: ESHRE. The European IVF Monitoring Programme (EIM), for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE)
- A. Nyboe Andersen, V. Goossens, S. Bhattacharya, A.P. Ferraretti, M.S. Kupka, J. de Mouzon, K.G. Nygren, and The European IVF-monitoring (EIM) Consortium, for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE)
Hum. Reprod. 2009 24: 1267-1287.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text] - Pregnancies conceived using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have low levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) leading to a high rate of false-positive results in first trimester screening for Down syndrome
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Hum. Reprod. 2009 24: 1522-1528.[Abstract] [FREE Full Text]
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