How to Improve Your ART Success Rates

IVF is now established worldwide as a clinical service. Units are striving to improve their success rates, and many treatments are being advocated as 'yet another breakthrough'. The purpose of this book is to help clinicians to evaluate each of these new treatments. Each chapter is written by a recognized international expert in the field and the chapters are short and succinct, summarizing the latest evidence-based information for each topic and treatment. Sections cover patient selection and preparation, the role of AIH before IVF, stimulation, monitoring, laboratory techniques, embryo transfer, ancillary treatments and assessment of results. How to Improve your ART Success Rates: An Evidence-Based Review of Adjuncts to IVF is essential reading for all clinicians working with infertility and assisted reproduction, and is also a valuable addition to any medical library. Edited by: Gab Kovacs, Monash University, Victoria Features • Concise chapters are ideal for the busy infertility specialist • Chapters are authored and edited by respected international figures in the field of assisted reproduction • Summarizes the key evidence-based information related to assisted reproduction, with reference lists highlighting priority further reading material Table of Contents Preface Part I. Patient Selection and Preparation: 1. Pre-treatment hormone assessment to optimize IVF outcomes 2. Role of pelvic ultrasonography in the selection and preparation of patients for in vitro fertilization (IVF) 3. Is pre-IVF laparoscopy/hysteroscopy worthwhile? 4. The management of polyps and fibroids 5. Immunological screening in women undergoing IVF 6. Natural killer cell analysis 7. Weight control 8. Do vitamins and natural supplements improve pregnancy rates? 9. PCO patients – is there a role for metformin 10. An evidence-based medicine review of adjunctive treatments to IVF 11. Management of hydrosalpinges Part II. The Role of AIH Before IVF: 12. IUI – who should be treated and what are the expectations? Part III. Stimulation: 13. What superovulation protocol is best? 14. FSH vs hMG: gonadotrophins are gonadotrophins are gonadotrophins 15. Agonists or antagonists for ovarian stimulation? 16. Should the oral contraceptive pill or progestogens be used to schedule controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH)? 17. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) 18. Luteinizing hormone supplementation in ART 19. The use of growth hormone in IVF 20. Prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome 21. Is IVF the best approach? Part IV. Monitoring: 22. How to monitor for the best results Part V. Laboratory: 23. Sperm selection for assisted conception 24. ICSI for all? 25. Day of embryo transfer 26. The beneficial effects of culture medium supplementation with growth factors in the development of human embryos in vitro 27. Metabolomics 28. Role of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) 29. Assisted hatching Part VI. Embryo Transfer: 30. The role of ultrasound in embryo transfer 31. Does dummy embryo transfer help? 32. Does position matter? 33. Embryo transfer catheters 34. Bed rest after embryo transfer 35. Intercourse around the time of embryo transfer Part VII. Ancillary Treatments: 36. Heparin and aspirin as an adjunctive treatment in women undergoing IVF 37. Place of oestrogen supplements in luteal phase after ET 38. Progesterone supplements 39. Place of corticosteroid co-treatment in IVF 40. Immunotherapy for IVF implantation failure: 'just in case' or 'just in time'? 41. Chinese herbs 42. Adjuvant therapy to improve endometrial development – sildenafil and/or hyperbaric oxygen therapy 43. The role of acupuncture in IVF 44. Psychological perspectives on IVF treatment 45. Future fertility for young women with cancer: protection, preservation or both? Part VIII. Assessment of Results: 46. How to report IVF success rates 47. Why do we need RCTs and how to design them? 48. How to assess Cochrane reports Index.