Human Reproduction, Vol. 17, No. 2, 518-520,
February 2002
© 2002 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Letters to the editor |
The potential value of mid-follicular phase LH
Institut Clinic of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology, Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, C/Casanova 143, 08036-Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence: E-mail: jbalasch@medicina.ub.es
Dear Sir,
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to reply Dr Filicori's letter regarding our paper (Balasch et al., 2001
) and to clarify several issues that he seems to have misunderstood and thus may be misleading to the reader of the letter. His main concern is our conclusion stressing that there is no need for additional exogenous LH supplementation in down-regulated women receiving a recombinant FSH-only preparation. Let me now respond to the points raised by Dr Filicori in his opposition to that conclusion:
(1) Dr Filicori's first point emphasises that low mid-follicular phase LH concentrations have been associated with a longer duration of stimulation, lower rates of oocyte and embryo yield, higher incidence of poor response (Fleming et al., 2000), and increased early pregnancy wastage (Westergaard et al., 2000). Fleming's report includes two consecutive time frames of study in which
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