Prospective randomized study of human chorionic gonadotrophin priming before immature oocyte retrieval from unstimulated women with polycystic ovarian syndrome

The present study examined whether the rates of oocyte maturation, fertiliz ation and development, as well as pregnancy rate could be improved by human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) priming 36 h before immature oocyte retrieva l in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), Immature oocyte retr ieval was performed on day 10-14 of the cycles and patients were randomly a llocated either to be primed with 10 000 IU of HCG before the retrieval, or not primed. Immature oocytes were cultured for 24-48 h in TC-199 medium wi th 20% (v/v) inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) supplemented with 75 mIU/ ml follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), Intracy toplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was performed in all mature oocytes and th e resulting embryos were transferred on day 2 or 3 after ICSI, A total of 1 7 patients underwent 24 completed treatment cycles. Thirteen cycles were pr imed with HCG and 11 other cycles were not primed. The mean number of oocyt es retrieved was comparable in the two groups (7.8 +/- 3.9 versus 7.4 +/- 5 .2). The percentage of oocytes achieving maturation at 48 h was significant ly higher (P < 0.05) in the HCG-primed group (84.3%, 86/102) than in the no n-HCG-primed group (69.1%, 56/81), Oocyte maturation was hastened in the HC G-primed group. Following 24 h of culture, 78.2 +/- 7.1% of oocytes were ma tured in the HCG-primed group compared with 4.9 +/- 2.5% of oocytes in the non-HCG-primed group (P < 0.001), There were no significant differences in the rates of oocyte fertilization and cleavage in these two groups. There w ere five clinical pregnancies (38.5%) in the HCG-primed group, and three pr egnancies (27.3%) in the non-HCG-primed group.