THE CHROMOSOMAL NORMALITY OF UNFERTILIZED OOCYTES FROM PATIENTS WITH POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME

The present study was designed to compare the cycle characteristics of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and the chromosomal normality of oocytes in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) with those of pat ients with tubal factor infertility, In all, 28 cycles of 24 PCOS pati ents and 55 cycles of 31 patients with tubal factor infertility (contr ol) were investigated, Although a significantly greater number of oocy tes were retrieved from PCOS patients (mean +/- SD: 15,6 +/- 6.4 versu s 9,0 +/- 4.0, PCOS versus control group, P < 0.05), the percentage of fertilized oocytes was significantly lower in the PCOS group compared with controls (40.1 versus 73.8%, P < 0.01), The pregnancy rate per e mbryo transfer did not differ between the two groups, Cytogenetic anal ysis was performed on 74 oocytes from PCOS patients and 73 oocytes fro m control patients, In the PCOS group, 10 of the 74 oocytes (13.5%) de monstrated aneuploidy, four (5.4%) oocytes were diploid and six (8.1%) oocytes were metaphase II with a prematurely condensed sperm chromoso me (PCC), In the tubal infertility group, nine of the 73 (12.3%) oocyt es showed aneuploidy, four (5.5%) oocytes were diploid and five (6.8%) oocytes were found to have PCC. There was no significant difference i n the aneuploidy, diploidy and PCC rates between the two groups, These results suggest that the reduced fertilization observed in PCOS is no t attributable to chromosomal aberrations or immaturity of oocytes rec ruited from patients with PCOS.