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ISSN: 2375-4508
Majumdar and Mishra, JFIV Reprod Med Genet 2016, 4:4
DOI: 10.4172/2375-4508.1000194
Case Study
Journal of Fertilization: In Vitro - IVF-Worldwide,
Reproductive Medicine, Genetics & Stem Cell Biology
Volume 4 • Issue 4 • 1000194
JFIV Reprod Med Genet, an open access journal
ISSN: 2375-4508
Keywords: Polycystic ovarian syndrome; Hyperstimulation
Case Represewntation
We report a case series of 18 such PCOS women selected from 100
CC resistant women undergoing r-FSH stimulation with the purpose of
ovulation induction.
All patients presented to the outpatient department where
their clinical examination was done by a clinician which included
measurement of body weight, height, waist and hip circumferences
and blood pressure. Height and weight were measured with subjects
in light clothes and without shoes, using a standard apparatus. Weight
was measured on a calibrated beam scale. Te height and WC were
measured to the nearest 0.5 cm with a measuring tape. Waist was
measured midway between the lower rib margin and the iliac crest at
the end of a gentle expiration. BMI was calculated as the weight in kg
divided by the height in meters squared (kg/m
2
).
For biochemical and hormonal measurements, overnight fasting
blood samples were taken from each subject. Oral glucose tolerance
test was done by drawing blood in EDTA-treated test tubes in fasting
status and then afer 2 h of ingesting 75 g of glucose, by an enzymatic
colorimetric method with hexokinase. Lipid measurements including
total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs) and HDL-C were obtained
using commercial assay kits. TGs were assayed using enzymatic
colorimetric tests using triglycerides GPO blank. Luteinizing hormone
(LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and serum estradiol were
measured by chemiluminescence method by Diasorin, LIAISON, Italy.
AMH was measured by chemiluminscene method using Beckman-
coulter kit.
All study subject’s follicular growth were monitored by trans-
vaginal ultrasound scans LOGIQ P5GE Healthcare with 6.5 MHz
trans-vaginal transducer and all scans were performed and assessed by
a single sonographer. Ultrasound was performed till adequate follicular
growth was obtained.
In all these CC resistant cases, ovulation induction was started with
injection of r-FSH 50/75 IU which was increased by 25 units every 5 to
7 days according to low dose step up protocol. Follicular response was
monitored by serum estradiol (E2) levels and ultrasound (USG) follicle
monitoring (FM). 18 PCOS were selected from this cohort of women as
they showed no ovulatory response in terms of rise in serum E2 levels
(at least rise of 30 pg/ml from baseline serum estradiol levels (20-80 pg/
ml) or presence of a follicle of 13 mm or larger, even afer 18-25 days of
stimulation with incremental doses of r-FSH of up to 150 IU.
Tese women were labeled as ‘FSH resistant PCOS’ and were
further stimulated with high doses of injection hMG (Humog Bharat
Serum, India). Te starting dose of hMG was 150 units which were
subsequently increased to 225 units if there was no response afer 6
days in terms of rise in S. E2 and USG evidence for dominant follicle.
Surprisingly all patient responded or hyper responded within 10 days
of stimulation.
We looked for characteristics common to this subset of PCOS
women so that we could possibly identify these FSH resistant PCOS’
in advance and treat them diferently from the beginning. Phenotypic,
laboratory and ultrasound features were noted. Tese included age,
BMI, waist circumference (WC), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT),
triglyceride (TG) levels, AMH, basal FSH, basal LH, ovarian volume
and AFC. All these women has clinical features of hyper-androgenism
hence testosterone levels were not tested. Observations were made for
this subset of women and all of them had almost equal characteristics in
terms of high BMI and WC, very high AMH and high ovarian volume
with AFC. Interestingly, no patient was a LH hypersecretor.
Terefore, it appears there exists a defnite group of anovulatory
PCOS, who appear to be resistant to ovulation induction when treated
with small doses of FSH alone for the purpose of ovulation induction.
Tere are 2 possible explanations to this resistance to injection rFSH
when given in low doses for the purpose of ovulation induction.
Firstly, very high levels of AMH have an inhibitory efect on follicular
recruitment under the infuence of exogenous FSH [1]. Addition of LH
possibly increases follicular sensitivity of granulosa cells by increasing
FSH receptors on them [2] so that they could respond to lower doses
of FSH which are used for ovulation induction in non IVF cycles.
Terefore, it appears addition of LH may help to overcome resistance
*Corresponding author: Abha Majumdar, Centre of IVF and Human Reproduction,
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Rajender Nagar, New Delhi, India, Tel: 01142251777,
E-mail: abhamajumdar@hotmail.com
Received November 09, 2016; Accepted December 13, 2016; Published
December 20, 2016
Citation: Majumdar A, Mishra P (2016) Series of 18 Cases of Clomiphene
Resistant Anovulatory Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Altered
Response to FSH Stimulation. JFIV Reprod Med Genet 4: 194. doi: 10.4172/2375-
4508.1000194
Copyright: © 2016 Majumdar A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original author and source are credited.
Series of 18 Cases of Clomiphene Resistant Anovulatory Women with
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Altered Response to FSH Stimulation
Abha Majumdar* and Poonam Mishra
Centre of IVF and Human Reproduction, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Rajender Nagar, New Delhi, India
Abstract
The outcome of ovulation induction in anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) may depend, in part,
on the pharmacologic compounds used, but also on individual patient characteristics, such as age, body mass
index (BMI), hyper- androgenism, luteinizing hormone (LH), hyper-secretion, anti mullerian hormone (AMH) levels
and possibly antral follicle count (AFC) with ovarian volume of these women. There exists a subset of clomiphene
citrate (CC) resistant PCOS women who require stimulation of ovulation with high doses of human menopausal
gonadotropin (hMG), after not having responded to chronic low dose step up regimes of recombinant follicle
stimulating hormone (r-FSH).