6 Ovulation induction in gonadotrophin-resistant women

The patient who has gonadotrophin-resistant ovaries and who requires ovulation induction or superovulation for IVF presents a serious problem. The diagnosis is usually made in the first treatment cycle which is either abandoned due to a failure of response, requires inordinately high doses of gonadotrophins to induce a response or fails to induce satisfactory oestradiol levels and/or follicular development. This situation is often associated with advanced maternal age and high day 3 concentrations of FSH. The possible treatment strategies that we have described seem to offer only a partial solution to specific subgroups of poor responders. These include protocols of clomiphene/hMG, mini-dose GnRH agonist regimens, and cotreatment with GH, each of which may be found to be effective in individual cases. Taking into account today's increasing demand for pregnancy in older aged women, more research is needed to evolve more efficient solutions for this difficult problem.