[Intended super-ovulation with HMG in the treatment of so-called functional sterility]

To investigate a new treatment for so-called functional sterility, 17 out of 456 infertile patients were treated in the past three years (age: 32.7 +/- 3.6 years old, infertile period: 5.9 +/- 1.4 years, M +/- S.D.). These patients were treated with HMG-HCG. The injection of HMG (75-450iu) was started on the 5th day of the menstrual cycle, and the follicular development was observed by ultrasonography. Then, HCG (10,000-20,000iu) was injected when 3 or 4 matured follicles (with a diameter greater than 20mm) were observed. In some cases, the endometrial biopsy was done in the mid-luteal phase and the effect of the treatment was examined morphologically. Pregnancies were observed in 6 cases (35.3%) and all of them were singletons. One of them spontaneously aborted at 9 weeks of gestation, but remaining five cases delivered at full term without any complications. The total dose of HMG was 2,116.8 +/- 843.3iu, and OHSS was observed in 5 cycles out of 31 cycles (16.1%). There was no other severe complication during the treatment. The growth of the endometrium thickened in the treated cases, but no time lag in endometrial dating could be found in the morphological study. These results indicated that the intended superovulation method for the treatment of so-called functional sterility was effective through the mechanism of the improvement of the implantation ratio.