IVF Outcome

There are several approaches to the timing of antagonist administration in IVF/ICSI cycles. The primary goal is indeed to prevent premature ovulation, which could jeopardize the success of the cycle There is an emerging concept that suggests that the progesterone produced by the corpus luteum (formed after ovulation) might be sufficient to prevent further ovulation, obviating the need for antagonist or exogenous progesterone administration. This hypothesis relies on the natural regulatory mechanisms of the menstrual cycle to maintain a progesterone-dominated environment post-ovulation. We hypothesized that this approach would minimize treatment costs /burden without having an impact on the outcome.

This is a prospective cohort study characterizing follicular fluid and serum levels of oxidative stress in women with various infertility diagnoses undergoing in vitro fertilization, and assessing the relationship of oxidative stress to oocyte competence as determined by embryo development outcomes. Furthermore, we will measure oxidative stress in sperm and correlate the overall oxidative stress within the couple with IVF and pregnancy outcomes of the resultant embryos.

The use of antagonist ovulation stimulation program is increasing year by year, because of its convenience, flexibility, and prevention effect of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. However, many researchers and clinicians believe that the clinical outcomes of antagonist regimens are worse than those of classical long-term regimens. Studies showed that the reasons for that maybe antagonist protocol results in poor effect on oocytes maturation or endometrial receptivity. At present, the trigger time of antagonist regimen is more than three follicles with diameters of ≥17 mm, which makes the duration of gonadotrophin application in antagonist regimen is shorter than that of long regimen. Whether the trigger time of antagonist regimen is too early to cause adverse effects on oocytes, embryos and eventual clinical outcomes is unknown. This study hopes to compare regular trigger timing and 1～2 days delay of trigger in ovarian stimulations by antagonist protocol，in order to study whether delay 1～2 days of trigger will get better clinical outcomes than regular trigger timing in ovarian stimulations by antagonist protocol in in vitro fertilization (IVF)/Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The results of this study will help infertile couples and clinicians to know and choose the optimal treatment in antagonist protocol.