ABSTRACT
To assess the relationship between pronuclear scoring and day-3 embryo quality and pregnancy outcome and to determine the clinical value of pronuclear stage scoring system in human in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (WF-ET) program, a pronuclear scoring system was used to score zygotes 16-20 h after insemination during conventional WF or intracytoplasmic sperm injec- tion (ICS1). The embryos were classified into groups Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4. Comparisons were made of the rates of arrested embryos and excellent embryos on day 3. Comparisons of pregnancy outcome were made only in those patients in whom cohorts of similarly Z-scored embryos were transferred. The results showed that there were less arrested embryos and more excellent embryos on day 3 in groups Z1 and Z2 than those in group Z3 and Z4. More embryos arrested and less excellent embryos developed in group Z4 than group Z3. The clinical pregnancy rates resulting from the transfer of single pronuclear score homologous embryo types were similar among groups Z1, Z2 and Z3. Implanta- tion rates of group Z1 were higher (P<0.05) than that of group Z3. These findings suggests that pro- nuclear scoring can predict developmental ability on day 3 and implantation potential. A evaluation that combines the Z-score and day 3 embryo morphology is useful in the determination of the most viable embryos and the number of embryos for transfer.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Ovarian cancer is a silent disease with few symptoms. Because early detection of ovarian cancer is difficult, most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage. To determine whether an ovarian tumor is malignant or not, various diagnostic procedures have been used including physical examination, ultrasound and tumor markers such as CA-125. We recently compared color Doppler sonography(CDS) with the morphological scoring system and CA-125 levels in establishing an accurate preoperative diagnosis of adnexal mass. As a result, we tried to compare the morphological scoring system with CA-125 and CDS in the diagnosis of adnexal mass. METHODS: The medical records of 47 patients referred with preexisting adnexal lesion were reviewed retrospectively by comparing ultrasonic data(morphological scoring system and color Doppler finding) with serum CA-125 and MRI findings. RESULTS: Forty-nine masses were removed surgically and confirmed as 25 malignancies and 22 benign tumors. In cases using the morphological scoring system and CA-125, the accuracy showed 95% sensitivity. In cases using the morphological scoring system and CDS, the sensitivity was 88%. In cases using the morphological scoring system and CDS, the sensitivity was 48%. CONCLUSIONS: The morphological scoring system and CA-125 are the basic methods for predicting ovarian malignancy. MRI and CDS may be also useful diagnosis methods in diagnosis of ovarian malignancy. But combination of these diagnositic modalities may not improve the accuracy of predicting ovarian malignancy, significantly.