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A study was designed to see if the use of prophylactic progesterone vaginal suppositories (PVS) reduced the risk of spontaneous abortions in women with a history of at least one spontaneous abortion. PVS was employed during the luteal phase to the end of the first trimester. The dosage was initially 50 mg/day, but was increased according to the endometrial biopsy and doubled as soon as pregnancy was established. Only 10 women (10%) aborted, and 8 of these 10 were successful in their next PVS-treated pregnancies. Overall there were 12 losses in 132 pregnancies (9%) in these PVS-treated patients. Forty-two percent of untreated controls aborted (10/24). The results suggest that PVS is effective in reducing the risk of spontaneous abortions in high-risk patients.

A study was designed to see if progesterone support of the luteal phase could reduce the increased incidence of spontaneous abortions seen in HMG-induced pregnancies. Fifty milligrams per day of progesterone suppositories beginning on the third day of the temperature rise or the demonstration of ovum release by ultrasound was employed. The incidence of spontaneous abortions in the untreated control group was 28% (28 of 100) as compared to 16% (21 of 130) of the progesterone-supported patients. The decrease in abortions cannot be attributed to losses of multiple gestations since there were larger numbers of multiples in the progesterone-supported group (1.3 babies per patient) versus the controls (1.2 babies per patient).

A clinical study was performed to determine the efficacy of the Pipelle in obtaining endometrial samples to be analyzed for luteal function. Patients' tolerance of this instrument and their willingness to undergo subsequent biopsies were also ascertained. An endometrial sample was obtainable from 1,278 women with the Pipelle, whereas 52 required the Novak curette and in 60 the sample could not be obtained with either instrument. Thirteen percent of the patients biopsied with the Pipelle stated that they would not allow a second such procedure to be performed. One percent of the samples were deemed inadequate for hormonal reading. The Pipelle seemed to be a safe, minimally traumatic method of sampling the endometrium for hormonal evaluation.

A third case of a testosterone-secreting adrenal adenoma is presented. It differs from the other 2 cases in additionally having glucocorticoid abnormalities. Clinically, the patient had been considered as having polycystic ovaries and did show some improvement with estrogen therapy. In fact, were it not for enlarging uterine leiomyomata on this therapy which prompted a more in depth investigation to look for alternative therapy, this potentially malignant adrenal lesion may never have been discovered.

Several anecdotal reports suggested an association of luteal phase defects (LPD) and hyperprolactinemia. Some physicians treat LPD with ovulation-inducing drugs, whereas others recommend progesterone support of the luteal phase. A study was thus initiated to evaluate in cases of LPD associated with hyperprolactinemia which therapy would be more efficacious--bromocriptine or progesterone (P). LPD was divided into two types based on follicle dynamic studies: (1) LPD associated with immature follicles and (2) pure LPD when the follicle was mature. The objective was to determine if P or bromocriptine would be more effective depending on the type of LPD. Randomized therapy with either bromocriptine (BCT) or progesterone vaginal suppositories (PVS) was given to 60 patients with pure LPD (established by endometrial biopsy in the late luteal phase) and similarly randomized therapy was given to 40 women with LPD and immature follicles. The incidence of pregnancies during an 8-month treatment period was as follows: pure LPD--23 of 50 women (77%) treated by PVS versus 5 of 30 women (17%) treated by BCT; LPD associated with immature follicles--3 of 20 women (15%) treated by PVS versus 14 of 20 women (70%) treated by BCT. Those women failing to conceive were now given the alternate therapy for the next 8 months.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ultrasound has been employed in diagnosing the luteinized unruptured follicle syndrome (LUF). Eighty-nine of 333 infertility patients were found to have LUF. The patients were divided into three groups. Group 1 was on no fertility medication. Twenty-five of 39 of this group released with HCG alone. Ten of the nonreleasers to HCG did release with HMG mixed with HCG. Group 2 patients had been treated with clomiphene and found to have LUF. Thirteen of 16 patients released with HCG and one of the failures released with HMG-HCG. Group 3 patients had been treated with HMG and had failed to release the ova despite HCG. Thirty-one of 33 did release with HMG-HCG. Twenty-six of 89 patients achieved a pregnancy within six months of therapy and 20 of 36 patients with all fertility factors corrected achieved a pregnancy.

Therapeutic insemination by donor (TID) is being used with increasing frequency. Because many diseases, some of which are lethal, can be transmitted through semen, the American Fertility Society established guidelines for use of donor sperm. They limit TID to cases of male infertility or hereditary/genetic disorders. Donor selection requires good health and absence of genetic abnormalities; criteria for semen including normal sperm motility, concentration, and normal morphology, and blood screening for infectious agents. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing should be performed initially in donors for fresh semen inseminations. If positive, the assay is verified with a Western blot test; if negative, the donor should be screened at 6-month intervals. Frozen samples should not be used until the 180 day reevaluation of the donor. Many studies show higher pregnancy rates using fresh rather than frozen semen samples for insemination. New methods of cryopreservation minimize the deleterious effects of freezing. If these effects, namely decreased sperm motility and impaired penetration ability, are eliminated, pregnancy rates can be expected to rise. Frozen semen is preferable because it allows time for sexually transmitted diseases to manifest themselves and for specimens from those donors to be rejected prior to use.

A case is described of a woman who was found to have an ovarian pregnancy on the left with a corpus luteum on the right ovary. This was determined by both pelvic sonography and laparotomy. The case did fulfill the four criteria of Spiegelberg.

Several reports suggest that women with endometriosis have a higher risk of spontaneous abortions when left untreated; however, these studies did not control for the presence of possible luteal phase defects. This study was designed to document the frequency of spontaneous abortions in women with endometriosis and ovulation defects treated prophylactically with progesterone, compared with similar patients without endometriosis. All the women had late luteal phase endometrial biopsies dating perfectly normal. Our findings show an increase in the rate of spontaneous abortions (25.7%) in women with endometriosis as compared with the entire group (3.8%). However, when the result for the group with endometriosis is compared with the subgroup of patients at diagnostic laparoscopy not showing endometriosis, the results are similar (30%). We conclude that when properly matched groups are compared, there is no increased risk of spontaneous abortions in women with endometriosis. Since we perform laparoscopies only in women failing to conceive after a reasonable number of seemingly normal cycles, the apparently high incidence of abortions in this group may be secondary to other factors that not only may lengthen the time needed for conception but also increase the abortion risk after conception.

A case of asthenospermia and decreased semen volume with consequent infertility is reported. The patient had large bilateral varicoceles but refused an operation. Significant improvement of volume and motility occurred after treatment with fluoxymesterone and pregnancy was achieved.

A woman with hypothyroidism and Graves ophthalmopathy was treated with propylthiouracil during her second pregnancy. This was employed because her first pregnancy resulted in an infant with severe intrauterine growth retardation and neonatal thyrotoxicosis. The antithyroid drug used during the second pregnancy crossed the placenta and treated the infant in utero. The infant was delivered by elective cesarean section at 36 weeks and was a live-born male with appropriate height and weight without evidence of thyrotoxicosis. The therapeutic benefit of propylthiouracil during this second pregnancy seems likely, based on the development of neonatal thyrotoxicosis after 4 days of life and on the presence of high thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin levels in the mother and the infant.

We report the case of a 35-year-old woman with premature ovarian failure that was documented at 29 years of age, who wanted to conceive. Although she failed to respond to high doses of menotropin therapy, she ovulated and conceived after she took an oral contraceptive. The oral contraceptive was used to reduce the elevated level of gonadotropins in an effort to restore receptors to the luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, which theoretically may have been down-regulated.

The incidence of congenital anomalies in infants born to 382 women treated with P was noted. Only five anomalies occurred in the infants born to women who had taken P. This study supports the data of Rock et al. by demonstrating a similar low incidence of birth defects in a much larger series of patients who also took a much higher dosage of P. Similarly, because only 1 of 189 patients treated with both P and 17-OHP developed anomalies, the data supports the study by Katz et al., suggesting no increase in anomalies related to 17-OHP therapy.

A woman is described in whom the levels of the beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin were rising in a pattern consistent with a tubal pregnancy. A tubal molar pregnancy was found. Thus an early ectopic molar pregnancy is not distinguishable from a nontrophoblastic tubal pregnancy on the basis of human chorionic gonadotropin levels.

Unexplained infertility may be secondary to a cryptic male or female factor. Although most often empirical therapy of the female partner may be attempted, clomiphene has been claimed, after uncontrolled studies, to improve fertility in men with subnormal spermograms. We chose to determine if clomiphene therapy of the male would improve fertility in couples with unexplained infertility despite normal-appearing semen parameters. One hundred husbands were randomized to treatment with clomiphene citrate, 25 mg daily for 25 days with 5 days' rest each month, if their social security numbers ended in an even number or ascorbic acid, 500 mg daily, if ending in an odd number. All female infertility factors had to be meticulously corrected for at least eight cycles for inclusion in the study, along with a minimum of 1 1/2 years' duration of infertility. Within 8 months, 29 of 50 couples (58%) with clomiphene therapy of the male achieved a pregnancy, but only 8 of 50 (16%) with ascorbic acid treatment of the male. There were no appreciable changes in sperm counts, motility, or morphology after either treatment, nor were there any significant differences in semen parameters in those conceiving versus those who did not. Further, improved fertility could not be accounted for by improvement in the hamster ova penetration test. Possibly, clomiphene improves some quality of the sperm that is defective but not measurable by standard androgenologic methods, or it improves some aspect of the seminal plasma. Perhaps, though, the results might be better explained on a psychogenic basis, i.e., clomiphene is a "better" placebo than ascorbic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In previous studies we have shown that AKR mice could be protected from spontaneous leukemia by specific immunotherapy in combination with splenectomy. In this experiment we investigated the effects of nonspecific immunotherapy with C. parvum in a similar regimen. It was found that bi-weekly, ip inoculations of 0.7 mg of C. parvum could significantly protect AKR mice from spontaneous tumors, and that splenectomy could not modify this effect. Thus, the spleen does not appear to play a determinant role in mediating the protective effects of C. parvum, as had been suggested in other systems.

Insemination of women with sperm treated by the swim-up technique resulted in 81% male offspring. This was achieved even in women taking ovulation-inducing drugs, in whom the albumin gradient separation technique not only is not effective in male preselection but in which the female sex is favored. Confirmation of these initial data is needed as well as an investigation of the swim-up's efficacy of producing male offspring in women not taking ovulation-inducing drugs.

Therapy with human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) conventionally has been monitored by estrogen measurements. Pelvic sonography may offer a more accurate method of monitoring HMG therapy. In this study 67 anovulatory patients were treated with HMG until at least one follicle had a diameter of 17 mm. The serum estradiol level was noted at the time a mature follicle was achieved. There was a correlation between the ultrasound data and the serum estradiol range in 57% of the cases. However, in 24% it was necessary to push the estradiol level above the allowable maximum of 2000 pg/mL. Twenty percent of the patients attained a 17-mm follicle before reaching the minimum required estradiol level of 500 pg/mL. Sonographic monitoring should improve the efficacy of HMG therapy.

The effects of glass, polystyrene, and polypropylene containers on semen parameters as measured by Cell Soft computer-assisted semen analysis and hypoosmotic swelling (HOS) tests were assessed in unwashed specimens and again after sperm washing and swim-up procedures. A superiority in unwashed specimens was observed in glass versus polystyrene concerning velocity, motility percentage, and HOS testing (p less than 0.01). Also, superiority of glass versus polystyrene was demonstrated for linearity and ALH (p less than 0.05). Glass was only superior to polypropylene in categories of motility and HOS testing (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01, respectively). There was no category in which plastic was statistically superior to glass in the unwashed specimens. Concerning washed and swim-up specimens, there were no semen parameters in which there was any superiority demonstrated of either glass or plastic. Unless some future proof that the differences in semen parameters demonstrated in this study have no clinical significance, these data suggest that the collection of semen samples for sperm analysis or therapeutic use should be performed in glass containers.

An increase in phagocytosis of Escherichia coli O86, an organism containing blood group B substance, was seen in the presence of anti-B antibodies.