in vitro fertilization (ivf) and other assisted reproductive technologies present an enormous hope to couples with fertility difficulties. assisted reproductive technology is one of the risk factors that can result in anxiety in these couples. indeed, ivf-treatments cause a stress, for both the woman and her partner. the different stages of the ivf-procedure can affect the emotional life of the...

Objective: The most severe complication of IVF, death, is reported rarely. IVF-pregnancies are known to have more obstetric complications, which may result in a higher incidence of maternal deaths. In order to demand attention to this severe complication and to prevent recurrence, we collected deaths that may have been related to IVF. Materials and Methods: All deaths from 1984-2008 were collec...

Retrieval of immature oocytes from unstimulated ovaries, followed by in vitro maturation (IVM) was originally proposed in order to avoid side effects of gonadotropin administration. The target is to eliminate or significantly reduce the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), drug cost and burden on patients. This technology was also s...

OBJECTIVE Obesity is a worldwide concern with detrimental health effects including decreased fecundity. However, obesity's impact on in vitro fertilization (IVF) is inconclusive and there is little data concerning poor ovarian responders (POR). This study explored the effects of overweight and obesity on IVF outcomes of POR. Design. We retrospectively evaluated 188 POR undergoing IVF cycles. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Women undergoing assisted reproductive procedures, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), fail to achieve pregnancy in approximately 70% of cases. Postulating that among the possible causes of failure of embryo implantation might be an impairment of the uteroplacental circulation due to hypercoagulability in the mother, we inv...

This review provides an overview of how women adjust emotionally to the various phases of IVF treatment in terms of anxiety, depression or general distress before, during and after different treatment cycles. A systematic scrutiny of the literature yielded 706 articles that paid attention to emotional aspects of IVF treatment of which 27 investigated the women's emotional adjustment with standa...

BACKGROUND Only 25% of IVF transfer cycles lead to a clinical pregnancy, calling for continued technical progress but also more in depth analysis of patients' individual characteristics. The interleukin-1 (IL-1) system and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are strongly implicated in embryo implantation. The genes coding for IL-1Ra (gene symbol IL-1RN), IL-1beta, MMP2 and MMP9 bear functional pol...

Aspects of the immunological relationship between mother and conceptus still remain a mystery, although the recent advances in molecular biology have enlightened some of the parameters that participate in feto-maternal cross-talk during implantation. The atypical expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC), the specific roles of some hormones and cytokines, as well as the temporal and ...

OBJECTIVE To estimate whether exercise before the first cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF) affects cycle outcomes. METHODS A total of 2,232 patients were prospectively enrolled before undergoing their first cycle of IVF for the treatment of infertility from 1994-2003 at three IVF clinics in the greater Boston area. The primary IVF outcomes of interest included successful live birth and fou...