title: Severe OHSS: yes, there is a strategy to prevent it!
abstract: Effective measures to prevent ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) remain controversial. It became almost 'common knowledge' that there is no strategy that may completely prevent OHSS. Extensive clinical experience (albeit not derived from prospective randomized studies) clearly documents the ability of a single administration of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist to effectively trigger ovulation, while completely eliminating any threat of clinically significant OHSS. This strategy cannot be used if the pituitary is down-regulated (as is the case in most assisted reproductive cycles today), however, the newly-introduced GnRH antagonists open new opportunities for implementing this strategy, since the pituitary preserves its responsiveness to GnRH agonists. Combining GnRH antagonist-based ovarian stimulation (particularly in 'high responders'), with GnRH agonist-driven ovulation triggering will make severe OHSS a disease of the past in assisted reproduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rambam Medical Center, and Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 31096, Israel. skol@rambam.health.gov.il
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kol
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Itskovitz-Eldor
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000819:agonists / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D006801:Humans; D016471:Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010062:Ovulation Induction / Q000379:methods; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000379:methods; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone