FSH -The Essential Hormone [antikvár]

Introduction J. Schoemaker Many new developments have recently taken place and are still about to take place in the techniques, as well as in the drugs, used for induction of ovulation. In particular, the use of gonadotropins has been subject to many improvements. It has become clear that the addition of LH to FSH is not at aU important in the use of gonadotropins, and because of this the first preparation containing only FSH came on the market in the mid-1980s. Moreover, a gradual awareness has developed that LH might even be harmful in the course of ovulation induction. Consequently, some doctors nowadays prefer to carry out ovarian stimulation under pituitary suppression. The purified FSH preparation of the mid-1980s will soon be replaced by a new urinary FSH preparation, which is of a much higher purity, being practically devoid of all the contaminating peptides that were still present in the first 'pure FSH'. However, this highly purified FSH will only be an intermediate step on the way to the FSH of the future: recombinant FSH. It is not only the drugs that are changing the scene, but also the techniques. These changes also began in the previous decade with the rediscovery of the threshold principle of follicular stimulation, which had already been formulated by J.B. Brown from Melbourne in 1978. The techniques have been modified to involve more careful approaches to ovulation induction, by increasing FSH dosages or FSH levels by much smaller amounts than were used in the past. In addition, a better understanding of the threshold principle may increase our ability really to control hyperstimulation of the ovaries in in vitro fertilization. This book contains four excellent papers on the topics mentioned above. They were presented at a Symposium organized by Serono at the VIII World Congress on Human Reproduction, held in Bali in the Spring of 1993. They discuss the latest developments and understanding of FSH and foUicular growth. The firm conclusion is that FSH is the essential hormone for stimulation of follicular growth, and thus for induction of ovulation.