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Updated: May 25, 2026

Fertility Preservation Through Oocyte Vitrification: Clinical and Laboratory Perspectives
Published on: September 16, 2021
Should androgen supplementation be used for poor ovarian response in IVF?
Sesh Kamal Sunkara1, Arri Coomarasamy, Wiebke Arlt
1Assisted Conception Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation Trust, King's College London, 11th Floor, Tower Wing, St Thomas' Street, London SE1 9RT, UK. sksunkara@hotmail.com
Abstract:
Poor ovarian response is reported in 9-24% of IVF cycles. Several interventions have been proposed to improve the outcome, although evidence to support these has been scant. There has been interest in the use of adjuvant androgens in this context and a recent worldwide survey showed that nearly a quarter of IVF clinicians used dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in poor responders. We examine the rationale for the use of adjuvant androgens and suggest that the current clinical uncertainty should be addressed by a randomized controlled trial of DHEA in poor responders.
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