Imperforate hymen is an uncommon obstructive anomaly of the female reproductive tract, which usually presents with intermittent and cyclical abdominal pain. Although it is usually sporadic, four cases of familial occurrence of imperforate hymen have been reported so far. Imperforate hymen is seldom associated with complications if it is detected early. In view of the possible familial occurrence, it is important to have a high index of suspicion in women who present with imperforate hymen. A detailed menstrual history of other female family members is necessary to enable early detection.
A 20 year-old woman presented with features of a twisted ovarian cyst and had an emergency laparotomy Intraoperative findings revealed bilateral, solid ovarian tumors and a left oophorectomy with biopsy of the contralateral ovary performed. Histopathology report confirmed Burkitt lymphoma of ovary. There was no other evidence of lymphoma elsewhere. The primary Burkitt lymphoma of the ovaries was successfully managed with six courses of highly toxic chemotherapy (Berlin-Frankfurt- Munster 1986 protocol). The patient has remained disease free for the last 36 months.
The empty follicle syndrome (EFS) is a rare complication of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, leading to cycle cancellation. Low human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) bioavailability and ovarian dysfunction have been implicated with this condition. This case report illustrates a typical case of EFS and several strategies suggested to overcome this problem.
Microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is a recognized entity and is defined as carcinoma with invasion of less than 5 mm penetration of the stroma and seldom metastasized. Our patient was a 70-year-old, multiparous woman who had a microinvasive, cervical, squamous cell carcinoma. The tumor had spread superficially into the entire endometrial cavity up to the fundus, totally replacing the columnar epithelium. This is an extremely rare phenomenon, with fewer than 20 cases reported so far in the literature.
INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the effect of human semen cryopreservation using an ultra-low temperature technique with a mechanical freezer at -85°C as an alternative method to the conventional liquid nitrogen technique at -196°C.
METHODS: This was a prospective experimental study conducted in the Medically Assisted Conception unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital, Malaysia from January 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007. All normozoospermic semen samples were included in the study. The concentration, motility and percentage of intact DNA of each semen sample were assessed before and after freezing and thawing on Days 7 and 30 post freezing.
RESULTS: Sperm cryopreservation at -85°C was comparable to the conventional liquid nitrogen technique for a period of up to 30 days in a normozoospermic sample. There was no statistical difference in concentration (Day 7 p-value is 0.1, Day 30 p-value is 0.2), motility (Day 7 p-value is 0.9, Day 30 p-value is 0.5) and proportion of intact DNA (Day 7 p-value is 0.1, Day 30 p-value is 0.2) between the ultra-low temperature technique and conventional liquid nitrogen cryopreservation at Days 7 and 30 post thawing.
CONCLUSION: This study clearly demonstrates that short-term storage of sperm at -85°C could be a viable alternative to conventional liquid nitrogen cryopreservation at -196°C due to their comparable post-thaw results.
Aim: Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a potentially life-threatening, iatrogenic complication of assisted reproduction and has been associated with poor in vitro fertilization outcome. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the pregnancy rate and outcome following severe OHSS, at a single center over a three-year period. Methods: The incidence of severe OHSS at the IVF Center, National University of Singapore, in Singapore, was 4% (48 cases over 1200 cycles) during the period of 1997-2000. The present retrospective study compared 48 cases of severe OHSS to 144 age-matched, contemporaneous controls without OHSS. Results: The total gonadotropin required for severe OHSS group was found to be lower than for that of controls (2664.06 ± 768.29 IU vs 3349.58 ± 2003.73 IU), although duration of stimulation was similar. The OHSS group was associated with a fivefold increase (OR 5.293, 95% CI: 2.116-13.238) in pregnancy rate compared to controls (87.5% vs 56.9%; P 0.05) and miscarriage rates (14% vs 7.3%; P > 0.05) between the groups. Conclusion: Severe OHSS at our center were mostly late onset. The pregnancy rate was significantly higher, but multiple pregnancy and miscarriage rates were not significantly increased when compared to the age-matched contemporaneous controls. (Reprod Med Biol 2005; 4: 207-211).
Ectopic pregnancy is conventionally managed by laparoscopic salpingectomy. Electrocautery has been used widely to secure hemostasis during salpingectomy. However, this method is associated with a risk of thermal injury to the visceral organs. Endoloop, a pre-tied suture used in laparoscopic surgery may be an alternative treatment tool and its potential use in the management of ectopic pregnancy is explored here. Our study aims to compare the effectiveness of the endoloop technique to electrocautery during laparoscopic salpingectomy for tubal pregnancy.
Recurrent spontaneous abortion, defined as three consecutive abortions, occurs in approximately 1% to 2% of couples. Although the cause is unknown in up to 50% of cases, about 5% of these couples are found to be a balanced translocation carrier. We report a case in which the mother was identified to be a translocation carrier following the birth of a baby with multiple congenital abnormalities.
The rheological properties, microstructure, textural properties, colour and droplet size distribution of mayonnaise-like emulsion models prepared using 10-30wt.% of palm olein-based diacylglycerol (POL-DAG) oil were compared with those of the control (100wt.% VCO) model. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the particle size distribution of the oil droplets, the textural properties, and the rheological properties of the various emulsion models. The rheological analysis included the determination of the flow curves, yield stress, thixotropy, apparent viscosity, and viscoelastic parameters. The concentrated oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion with 30wt.% POL-DAG substitution exhibited high thixotropy. The POL-DAG content had a substantial effect on the rheological properties of yield stress, storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G″). The pseudoplastic behaviour of the emulsions was demonstrated. The size of the particles in the 30% POL-DAG-substituted emulsion was dramatically increased after one day and 30days of storage. All of the emulsion samples with POL-DAG substituted for VCO showed a relatively non-uniform bimodal droplet size distribution after one day of storage. In general, substitution of 10-20wt.% POL-DAG oil is appropriate for preparing O/W emulsions that had flow curves and textural properties similar to those of the control sample.
The long agonistic protocol for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is effective and used most often, thus is considered the gold standard. Therefore any new regimen has to be compared in its results with those obtained with the long protocol. This report compares the efficacy of GnRH agonist and antagonist in a retrospective study of IVF/ICSI carried out in a tertiary teaching hospital from 2003 to 2006. Only the first COH cycle followed by IVF-ICSI from 200 couples (agonist = 120 and antagonist = 80) were analysed. The end points studied included the number of oocytes recovered, number of mature (MII) oocytes, fertilization, cleavage, morphology based embryo quality, pregnancy rate, quantity and cost of gonadotrophin. The average age of female subjects was 35.1 +/- 4.7 years with 50% being 35 years and above. Major infertility factors were tubal blockage, male factor and endometriosis altogether comprising 68%. GnRH agonist and antagonist cycle parameters were comparable except lesser amount of gonadotrophin was used with lower resultant costs (both p < 0.0005) in antagonistic regime. Antagonist regime produce somewhat more good quality embryos (p = 0.065), an insignificant difference. A clinical pregnancy rate per embryo transfer of 16.3% in agonist and 20.6% in antagonist regime was achieved respectively. In conclusion, GnRH antagonist protocol produced a COH response, embryonic development and pregnancy rates on par to GnRH agonist regime. Moreover GnRH antagonist protocol required a shorter stimulation period plus fewer complications. Hence GnRH antagonist regime provided means for a friendlier, convenient and cost effective protocol for patients.
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) remains a therapeutic option within means of the majority of infertile couples in Malaysia. Therefore additional information on predictors of IUI success in the local context would provide a more concrete basis for counseling patients on expectations and treatment options. A retrospective analysis of 297 couples who underwent 445 IUI cycles from Jan 2005-Mar 2006 was undertaken. Four fifths were Malay with a mean paternal and maternal age of 35.53 +/- 5.82 (range 24-59) and 33.02 +/- 4.69 (range 21-46) years respectively. Causes of infertility were idiopathic (50%), endometriosis (17%) and anovulation/polycystic ovarian syndrome (15%). Almost 10% were oligoastenoteratozoospermic with another 23% oligozoospermic or astenozoospermic. Combined male and female factors occurred in 26%. A pregnancy rate (PR) of 9.4% per cycle; 14.1% per couple with a cumulative PR of 36.7% per 4 cycles was achieved. Those who became pregnant were significantly younger (31.29 +/- 4.43 vs. 33.21 +/- 4.68 years, p = 0.011) and had more follicles (13.95 +/- 9.72 vs. 11.43 +/- 6.67, p = 0.029) at the time of insemination. PR depreciated with maternal age and semen quality. Maternal and paternal age was inversely correlated to the number of follicles recruited (r = -0.30, p < 0.0005) and progressive sperm motility (r = -0.125, p = 0.013) respectively.
The present study focused on investigating the storage stability of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions with high oil volume fractions prepared with palm olein-based diacylglycerol oil (POL-DAG)/soybean oil (SBO) blends at 25 °C. The incorporation of different ratios of oil blends significantly influenced (p < 0.05) the texture, color, droplet size distribution, and rheological parameters of the emulsions. Only emulsions incorporated with 10% to 20% POL-DAG in oil phase exhibited pseudoplastic behavior that fitted the Power Law model well. Furthermore, the O/W emulsions prepared with POL-DAG/SBO blends exhibited elastic properties, with G' higher than G". During storage, the emulsion was found to be less solid-like with the increase in tan δ values. All emulsions produced with POL-DAG/SBO blends also showed thixotropic behavior. Optical microscopy revealed that the POL-DAG incorporation above 40% caused aggregated droplets to coalesce and flocculate and, thus, larger droplet sizes were observed. The current results demonstrated that the 20% POL-DAG substituted emulsion was more stable than the control emulsion. The valuable insights gained from this study would be able to generate a lot more possible applications using POL-DAG, which could further sustain the competitiveness of the palm oil industry.