OVARIAN RESERVE TEST WITH THE GONADOTROPIN-RELEASING-HORMONE AGONIST BUSERELIN - CORRELATION WITH IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION OUTCOME

A gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist stimulation test determinati on of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations before and 2 h after buserelin injection was carried out in 78 in-vitro fertilizatio n cycles, and compared with basal FSH concentrations to predict ovaria n response, Ovarian response was quantified by the ratio of peak oestr adiol concentration divided by the total dose of human menopausal gona dotrophin (HMG) administered, the most reproducible parameter in 11 pa tients who underwent two treatment cycles, Stimulation outcome was hig hly related to the buserelin test, the best prognostic indicator being the sum of FSH concentrations, However, basal FSH concentration achie ved similar correlations, even in those patients aged >35 years, Sensi tivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of basal FSH concentration and sum of FSH concentrations were similar, Low basa l concentration and sum of FSH concentrations were both associated wit h a better ovarian response, Construction of receiver operating charac teristic curves demonstrated that basal FSH concentration was more inf ormative than the sum of FSH concentrations, Finally, the sum of FSH c oncentrations did not increase the prediction of ovarian response vari ability, We conclude that the buserelin test is strongly predictive of stimulation outcome, but is no more informative than the usual screen ing, We suggest that the performance of other stimulation tests should be clearly compared with that of basal FSH concentration.