IMPROVEMENT OF PREGNANCY AND IMPLANTATION RATES IN CYCLIC WOMEN UNDERGOING OOCYTE DONATION AFTER LONG-TERM DOWN-REGULATION

An oocyte donation programme was carried out in 122 patients aged betw een 40 and 49 years for a total of 225 replacement cycles. Eggs were d onated by 103 women undergoing assisted reproduction technologies in o ur infertility centre, Recipients were divided into different groups a ccording to whether they were menopausal (group A) or cyclic and treat ed with short- (group B) or long-term (group C) gonadotrophin-releasin g hormone analogues, In group C, the ovarian suppression of the patien ts was prolonged with the aim of producing a type of artificial menopa use, Oocyte donors were aged between 21 and 35 years, and were equally distributed between the different groups, There were significant diff erences in pregnancy and implantation rates according to ovarian statu s: 30.8 and 16.1% respectively in group A, 30.6 and 17.7% respectively in group C versus 10.4 and 5.6% respectively in group B, Apart from i mproved pregnancy and implantation rates in cyclic women aged >40 year s after long-term downregulation, these data seem to demonstrate an im portant role for the endometrium in the implantation process.