The impact of the Dobbs decision on in-vitro fertilization and fertility care.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs vs Jackson marks a frightening new reality in America. Physicians and patients have been left confused and concerned regarding the broader implications of this ruling. Now that the constitutional right to an abortion has been overturned and the power has been relinquished to individual states, there is justifiable concern regarding the impact on in-vitro fertilization (IVF). This review explores the ways IVF and fertility care are at risk in the context of our new reality. RECENT FINDINGS: The decision to overturn the right to an abortion without specifying a viability standard opens the door to interpretation of when 'life' begins. Laws that do not specifically exempt IVF, or that include language suggesting that 'life begins at fertilization' pose a real threat to IVF. The potential for personhood laws poses a threat to embryo freezing and disposition, preimplantation genetic testing and culpability among other concerns. SUMMARY: Limitations to IVF may become an unintended consequence to the Dobbs decision, making IVF less efficient, more costly and unsafe, and inevitably limiting access to care. It is therefore crucial that public health legislation be rooted in science and not dictated by religion or politics. Physicians must act alongside legislators to protect reproductive freedom and access to care.

Single live birth derived from conjoined oocytes using laser-cutting technique: a case report.

The finding of conjoined oocytes is a rare occurrence that accounts for only 0.3% of all human retrieved oocytes. This phenomenon is quite different from that of a traditional single oocyte emanating from one follicle, and may result in dizygotic twins and mosaicism. Given the insufficient evidence on how to approach conjoined oocytes, their fate is variable among different in vitro fertilization (IVF) centres. In this observational report, we propose a new protocol for the use of these conjoined oocytes using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), laser-cutting technique and next-generation sequencing (NGS). The first case report demonstrates that conjoined oocytes can penetrate their shared zona pellucida (ZP) at Day 6. The second case is that of a 25-year-old female patient who underwent a successful embryo transfer cycle after removal of one oocyte in which a pair of conjoined human oocytes underwent ICSI, laser-cutting separation and NGS testing. The patient achieved pregnancy and gave birth to single healthy female originally derived from conjoined oocytes. This case provided a means through which normal pregnancy may be achieved from conjoined oocytes using laser-cutting separation techniques. The protocol described may be especially beneficial to patients with a limited number of oocytes.

Risk factors for perioperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing hysterectomy for benign disease in a teaching institution.

PURPOSE: The purpose is to identify risk factors for perioperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing hysterectomy for benign disease. METHODS: This study is a retrospective chart review including all the patients who underwent hysterectomy for benign disease between January 1st 2018 and December 31st 2019. Patients who received perioperative blood transfusion were identified and compared to those who did not. The following risk factors for blood transfusion were analyzed: route of hysterectomy, BMI, presence of adhesions, history of cesarean section, uterine weight. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 517 patients were identified and included in the study. Forty-seven patients (9.09%) received a perioperative blood transfusion. The abdominal hysterectomy route (TAH) was a significant risk factor for receiving blood transfusion (p = 0.012). Other identified risk factors for blood transfusion included: Body mass index above 33.0 (p = 0.002), and uterine weight (p = 0.002). There was no association between the presence of pelvic adhesions (p = 0.91) or a personal history of cesarean section (p = 0.89) and receiving perioperative blood transfusion. When analyzing only the patients who underwent TLH, the presence of pelvic adhesion was found as a risk factor for perioperative blood transfusion (p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: The abdominal hysterectomy route, the presence of a large uterus, and obesity are risk factors for receiving a blood transfusion. Early identification of the patient at risk of requiring perioperative blood transfusion provides better patient counseling and surgical preparation.

Enlargement of the genital hiatus is associated with prolapse recurrence in patients undergoing sacrospinous ligament fixation.

OBJECTIVE: To correlate genital hiatus (GH) size with surgical failures in patients undergoing sacrospinous ligament fixation (SSLF) and compare anatomic outcomes after classification based on GH size. METHODS: A retrospective review of 81 patients who underwent SSLF for apical prolapse from 2010 to 2016 at a teaching hospital. Anatomical outcome is reported using the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantifications System. A comparison of parametric continuous variables was performed using unpaired Student t test. Categorical variables were evaluated using Pearson's χ2 test and Fisher's exact test. A P value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Among the 81 patients, no difference in age, parity, body mass index, preoperative prolapse stage or follow-up time was noted between those whose surgery succeeded and those with failed surgery. Postoperatively, a widened GH was significantly associated with recurrent prolapse (P < 0.001). When the preoperative size of the GH was dichotomized into widened (≥4 cm) or normal (<4 cm), there was a non-significant (P = 0.444) trend of more failures in the widened GH group. A posterior colporrhaphy did not improve success. CONCLUSION: Both preoperative and postoperative widened GH correlated with having more surgical failures following SSLF. Importantly, postoperatively a normal size GH was significantly associated with more surgical success.