• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.42-50
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of female infertility patients who come to Korean medicine clinics and analyze the trends of Korean medicine treatment methods and the effects of female infertility by registry data. Methods: We are recruiting study participants from Korean medicine hospitals and clinics. If female infertility patients come, we will ask them to register for this study. After enrollment, we will collect demographic information, treatment methods, pregnancy results, adverse events, and treatment costs. Result: First, we will analyze the characteristics of patients, the status of the use of Korean medicine treatment interventions, the cost status of Korean medicine infertility treatment, and the delivery characteristics of pregnant women after Korean medicine treatment. Second, we will analyze the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment. The primary outcome is clinical pregnancy rate, and secondary outcomes are 12-week pregnancy maintenance rate, degree of dysmenorrhea and premenstrual syndrome, stress level, and health-related quality of life score. Discussion: This study is the first observational multi-center study in Korea for female infertility. By establishing the registry, we are creating a resource that contains patient-reported outcome measures for female infertility. The registry is expected to provide valuable data for developing Korean medicine Clinical practice guidelines for female infertility.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2013

This study was performed to investigate the effect of peroxisome proliferators activated receptor-${\gamma}$ (PPAR-${\gamma}$) ligand, pioglitazone, on production of regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome in infertile patients with endometriosis. Sixty-four infertile patients with stage III or IV endometriosis undergoing IVF were randomly allocated to the study or the control group. The long protocol of GnRH agonist (GnRH-a) was used for controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in all patients. Patients in the study group were treated with pioglitazone at a dose of 15 mg/day orally from the starting day of GnRH-a treatment to the day of hCG injection. Blood samples were drawn for serologic assay of RANTES on the first day of GnRH-a treatment and the day of hCG injection. There were no differences between the study and control groups in patient characteristics. There were also no differences between the two groups in COS duration, and the numbers of retrieved oocytes, fertilized oocytes and embryos transferred. The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle was higher in the study group, but this difference was not statistically significant. However, embryo implantation rate was significantly higher in the study group of 12.5% compared with 8.6% in the control group (P<0.05). The serum RANTES levels after pioglitazone treatment were significantly lower than those before pioglitazone treatmen in the study group (P<0.05). Our data suggest that pioglitazone treatment can suppress RANTES production and improve the embryo implantation rate in patients with endometriosis undergoing IVF.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.103-106
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• 1989

Gamete intrafollopian transfer, a varient of IVF, is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment modality for infertility in women with at least one healthy follopian tube. Although GIFT has recently been poprlarized as a safe and effective treatment in selected infertile couples, little discussion of potential complications has been published. Whereas a tubal pregnancy rate of approximately 5% has been noted for IVF, early reports of GIFT have noted ectopic pregnancy to be relativiely rare. We experienced a case of combined pregnancy following GIFT with microsurgery and now present it with brief review of related literatures.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 1991

Thirty five couples were treated by intrauterine insemination with sperm prepared by a washing and swim-up method. Fifteen women conceived(42.9%). Sperm washing and swim-up was found to significantly improve sperm motility for men of infertile couples and the increment of percent sperm motility after sperm preparation allowed significant differentiation of pregnant and nonpregnant patients in asthenozoospermia(submotile) group (p<0.01). The author suggest that the increment of percent sperm motility after sperm washing and swim-up could be a useful screening tool for in vitro procedure proposed to improve fertility in the intrauterine insemination of asthenozoospermia.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.207-213
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• 2017

Objective: This study investigated the prevalence of infections with human papillomavirus, Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma hominis, and Mycoplasma genitalium in the semen of Korean infertile couples and their associations with sperm quality. Methods: Semen specimens were collected from 400 men who underwent a fertility evaluation. Infection with above five pathogens was assessed in each specimen. Sperm quality was compared in the pathogen-infected group and the non-infected group. Results: The infection rates of human papillomavirus, C. trachomatis, U. urealyticum, M. hominis, and M. genitalium in the study subjects were 1.57%, 0.79%, 16.80%, 4.46%, and 1.31%, respectively. The rate of morphological normality in the U. urealyticum-infected group was significantly lower than in those not infected with U. urealyticum. In a subgroup analysis of normozoospermic samples, the semen volume and the total sperm count in the pathogen-infected group were significantly lower than in the non-infected group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that infection with U. urealyticum alone and any of the five sexually transmitted infections are likely to affect sperm morphology and semen volume, respectively.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2011

Objective: To determine the age specific serum anti-M$\ddot{u}$llerian hormone (AMH) reference values in Korean women with regular menstruation. Methods: Between May, 2010 and January, 2011, the serum AMH levels were evaluated in a total of 1,298 women who have regular menstrual cycles aged between 20 and 50 years. Women were classified into 6 categories by age: 20-31 years, 32-34 years, 35-37 years, 38-40 years, 41-43 years, above 43 years. Measurement of serum AMH was measured by commercial enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results: The serum AMH levels correlated negatively with age. The median AMH level of each age group was 4.20 ng/mL, 3.70 ng/mL, 2.60 ng/mL, 1.50 ng/mL, 1.30 ng/mL, and 0.60 ng/mL, respectively. The AMH values in the lower 5th percentile of each age group were 1.19 ng/mL, 0.60 ng/mL, 0.42 ng/mL, 0.27 ng/mL, 0.14 ng/mL, and 0.10 ng/mL, respectively. Conclusion: This study determined reference values of serum AMH in Korean women with regular menstruation. These values can be applied to clinical evaluation and treatment of infertile women.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.317-323
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify the mediating effect of somatic symptoms between depression and resilience of women undergoing assisted reproductive techniques. The data were collected by structured questionnaire from 97 infertile women who were receiving assisted reproductive techniques in clinic for fertility treatment. There was a significant correlation among depression, somatic symptoms and resilience. Somatic symptoms had a complete mediating effect(${\beta}=.73$, p< .001) on the relationship between depression and resilience(Z=6.32, p< .001). And impact of influence was 53%. Based on the findings of this study, it was found that the development and application of somatic symptoms management program for improving resilience should be needed for nursing women undergoing assisted reproductive techniques in the clinical setting.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2006

Objective: This study was to investigate the clinical efficiency of clomiphene citrate/GnRH antagonist protocol comparing with the clomiphene citrate only protocol in infertile women with normal ovulatory cycles. Method: Among 116 patients, 43 were received assisted reproductive technologies using natural ovulatory cycle, 38 and 35 were received clomiphene citrate only protocol and clomiphene citrate/GnRH antagonist combined protocol, respectively, and the clinical results were compared and analyzed Results: In each group, basal levels of LH, FSH, $E_2$ and FSH, $E_2$ on hCG day injected were not different, but LH level and endometrial thickness on hCG injected day were decreased significantly and the pregnancy rate was increased significantly in clomiphene citrate/GnRH antagonist group. Conclusion: The pregnancy rate was increased significantly in clomiphene citrate/GnRH antagonist group compared with natural ovulatory cycle and clomiphene citrate only group.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.153-158
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• 2011

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether anti-M$\ddot{u}$llerian hormone (AMH) levels could be predict ovarian poor/hyper response and IVF cycle outcome. Methods: Between May 2010 and January 2011, serum AMH levels were evaluated with retrospective analysis. Three hundred seventy infertile women undergoing 461 IVF cycles between the ages of 20 and 42 were studied. We defined the poor response as the number of oocytes retrieved was equal or less than 3, and the hyper response as more than 25 oocytes retrieved. Serum AMH was measured by commercial enzymelinked immunoassay. Results: The number of oocytes retrieved was more correlated with the serum AMH level (r=0.781, $p$ <0.01) than serum FSH (r=-0.412, $p$ <0.01). The cut-off value of serum AMH levels for poor response was 1.05 ng/mL (receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curves/area under the curve [AUC], $ROC_{AUC}$=0.85, sensitivity 74%, specificity 87%). Hyper response cut-off value was 3.55 ng/mL $ROC_{AUC}$=0.91, sensitivity 94%, specificity 81%). When the study group was divided according to the serum AMH levels (low: <1.05 ng/mL, middle: 1.05 ng/mL - 3.55 ng/mL, high: >3.55 ng/mL), the groups showed no statistical differences in mature oocyte rates (71.6% vs. 76.5% vs. 74.8%) or fertilization rates (76.9% vs. 76.6% vs. 73.8%), but showed significant differences in clinical pregnancy rates (21.7% vs. 24.1% vs. 40.8%, $p$=0.017). Conclusion: The serum AMH level can be used to predict the number of oocytes retrieved in patients, distinguishing poor and high responders.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2007

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of split insemination method in treatments for non-male factor infertility. Method: Laboratory and clinical data were collected from 505 cycles of split insemination during 2002$\sim$2005 in our center. The subjects were non-male factor infertility such as endometriosis, tubal, uterine, PCOS and idiopathic infertility without any sperm defects. Retrieved oocytes were randomly divided, and inseminated by conventional IVF or ICSI. Fertilized zygotes were cultured for 2$\sim$5 days to ET date, and surplus zygotes and embryos were frozen for subsequent frozen-thawed ET cycles. Clinical outcomes according to insemination method were compared by statistical analysis. Results: The overall fertilization per retrieved oocytes was significantly higher in ICSI than that of conventional IVF in sibling oocytes (62.5$\pm$22.3% vs 52.9$\pm$28.0%, p<0.01). Total fertilization failure occurred only in 2 of 505 cycles (0.4%) in split insemination cycles. Incidence of fertilization failure and poor fertilization rate less than 30% by ICSI were significantly lower than those of conventional IVF (1.1% and 7.5% vs 8.5% and 22.0%, p<0.01). Delivery rates after transfer of fresh and thawed embryos from split insemination cycles were 40.0% (185/462) and 35.0% (55/157), respectively. There was no significant difference in the implantation and delivery rates of ET with embryos from conventional IVF or ICSI. Conclusion: Taken together, the split insemination method improves poor fertilization rates resulting in successful clinical outcomes and thus could be used for non-male factor infertile couples in human ART program.