Controlled ovarian stimulation, using specific pharmaceutical medication, is a customized treatment for every patient in order to achieve the best possible results and to avoid complications. Women who follow an ovarian stimulation program continue their daily activities normally.
In general, the drugs used in ovarian stimulation protocols are:
- Gonadotropins which stimulate the ovaries!
Are administered in the form of injections, usually subcutaneously, on the abdomen or the thigh with a small insulin-type needle, around the same time every day.
The dosage (how many ‘units’ of the medication) is adjusted depending on many parameters of the patient (hormonal status/BMI etc) even between different cycles of the same patient and according to the progress of each cycle.
Various gonadotropin medication regimes and different hormones can be subscribe (FSH, LH, combination) and their origin (recombinant or human / purified).
- Analogues of GnRH, Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone.
GnRH stimulates the release of gonadotropins. The administration of analogues of
that hormone achieves suppression of endogenous gonadotropins in women (those
which her own body produces). This supression allows us to have full control of the
situation (since we can adjust the stimulation with gonadotropin injections), and also
ensures us that a sudden increase in endogenous LH will not occur. In such a case, the
sudden increase would result in a mistimed ovulation and thus inevitable cancellation
of the effort.
