First follow-up of art pregnancies in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to follow up the monitoring, health and anxiety from women who became pregnant after an embryo transfer or a intrauterine insemination during the COVID-19 epidemic in France STUDY DESIGN: This is a single centre, retrospective study from December 2019 to March 2020 based on a phone call interview using a specific questionnaire sheet specially developed for this study. Questionnaires from 104 pregnant women were completed and descriptive data are then analyzed. RESULTS: Women with ongoing pregnancies (n = 88) did not change their physician visits. The COVID-19 outbreak has created no or few additional stresses for 77 % of pregnant women since the lockdown started. We report a miscarriage rate of 14.4 % (n = 15) and documented 10 patients (11.3 %) who had symptoms related to COVID-19. No severe symptoms and no hospitalization in intensive care unit were identified. CONCLUSION: The epidemic context did not disrupt the medical monitoring of pregnancies and we did not recover an increased rate of miscarriage after ART. None of the patients who had COVID-related symptoms presented with severe clinical manifestations. Surprisingly, pregnant women were psychologically able to experience the lockdown.

Priming Before In Vitro Maturation Cycles in Cancer Patients Undergoing Urgent Fertility Preservation: a Randomized Controlled Study.

In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes retrieved at germinal vesicle stage, followed by vitrification of mature oocytes, has emerged as a fertility preservation (FP) option. This technique was first developed for patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome. In this population, providing LH activity prior to oocyte collection has been associated with better IVM outcomes. However, the benefit of this treatment in normo-ovulatory breast cancer (BC) patients undergoing IVM for FP purpose has never been investigated. To assess if the absence of therapeutic intervention prior to oocyte retrieval for IVM modifies IVM outcomes in BC patients undergoing urgent FP, we performed a non-inferiority, randomized controlled trial. The main outcome was the total number of mature oocytes obtained and cryopreserved after IVM. A total of 172 normo-ovulatory women, suffering from BC, 18 to 39 years of age received no injection or a subcutaneous injection of hCG or GnRH agonist (GnRHa) 36 h before oocytes retrieval according to randomized allocation. The total number of cryopreserved oocytes were 5.1 ± 3.8, 5.4 ± 3.8, and 6.0 ± 4.2 oocytes, respectively in the without, hCG and GnRHa groups. Mean differences were not significant between the three groups (- 0.5; CI 97.5% [- 2.03:1.02] and - 0.22; CI 97.5% [- 1.75:1.32], respectively). Intention to treat analyses failed to show non-inferiority in the "without injection group" in comparison with hCG or GnRHa groups. Our results are not conclusive enough to modify our practices and to stop administering hCG or GnRHa before IVM cycles for FP. The study was retrospectively registered to clinical trial (ID NCT03954197) in May 2019.

Comparison of GnRH agonist and hCG for priming in vitro maturation cycles in cancer patients undergoing urgent fertility preservation.

In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes retrieved at germinal vesicle or Metaphase I stage, followed by vitrification of Metaphase II (MII) oocytes, has recently emerged as an option for urgent fertility preservation (FP). Priming is usually achieved with an injection of hCG, 10,000 IU, 36 hours before retrieval. This study aimed to assess a new method of priming, using GnRH agonists, and compare it to hCG, in cancer patients undergoing urgent FP. From 2009 to 2015, 373 cancer patients underwent MII oocyte cryopreservation after IVM cycles primed either with GnRHa (triptorelin 0.2 mg) (n = 138) or hCG (10,000 IU) (n = 235). Patients' characteristics were comparable between the two groups. The number of COC retrieved was significantly higher in the GnRHa group (9.1 ± 6.8 versus 7.7 ± 5.5 oocytes, p = 0.04). However, the maturation rates (59 ±25% versus 64 ±26%, p = 0.07, respectively), and the total number of MII oocytes frozen (5.2 ±4.2 versus 4.9 ±4.0, p = 0.6, respectively) were similar between the GnRha and hCG groups. We did not find any difference between GnRHa and hCG priming for IVM. GnRHa priming is more physiological since it stimulates endogenous FSH and LH activity, and is well suited for FP in hormone-sensitive cancers and urgent cases.

Endometriosis-related infertility: assisted reproductive technology has no adverse impact on pain or quality-of-life scores.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of assisted reproduction technology (ART) on painful symptoms and quality of life (QoL) in women who have endometriosis as compared with disease-free women. DESIGN: Prospective controlled, observational cohort study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT(S): Two hundred and sixty-four matched-pairs of endometriosis and disease-free women undergoing ART. INTERVENTION(S): Assessment of pain evolution using visual analogue scale (VAS) during ART; QoL assessment with the Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL) tool. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): VAS pain intensities relative to dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, noncyclic chronic pelvic pain (NCCPP), gastrointestinal pain, lower urinary tract pain; trends for VAS change between postretrieval and baseline evaluation; FertiQoL score; and statistical analyses conducted using univariate and adjusted multiple linear regression models. RESULT(S): After excluding canceled cycles and patients lost to follow-up observation, 102 women with endometriosis and 104 disease-free women were retained for the study. The trends for VAS change between the postretrieval and baseline evaluations in the women with endometriosis compared with the disease-free women revealed a statistically significant pain decrease for dysmenorrhea (-1.35 ± 3.23 and 0.61 ± 4.00) and dyspareunia (-1.19 ± 2.58 and 0.14 ± 2.06). For NCCPP, gastrointestinal symptoms, and lower urinary tract symptoms, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups. After multiple linear regression, no worsening of pain was observed in the endometriosis group as compared with disease-free group. In addition subgroup analysis according to endometriosis phenotype failed to show any increase of pain. The quality of life in the endometriosis group was comparable to that of the disease-free group. CONCLUSION(S): Assisted reproduction technology did not exacerbate the symptoms of endometriosis or negatively impact QoL in women with endometriosis as compared with disease-free women.