Successful pregnancies from IVF of immature oocytes in unstimulated cycles (IVM-IVF) have been obtained since 1999 at our clinic. However, pregnancy rate of IVM-IVF remains marginal. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether priming patients with HCG would improve its outcome. Forty-two cycles were primed with HCG and 119 used as control were not primed. Those patients were classified into three groups with regular cycles, irregular cycles or PCOS. The number of oocytes retrieved and oocyte maturation rate at 24 h increased significantly with HCG compared to control in the patients with either regular or irregular cycles, but not in PCOS. There were no significant differences in fertilization rate by ICSI, embryonic development and pregnancy rate in any groups. The present study suggests that HCG priming increases the number of oocytes retrieved in some patient groups, but dose not improve clinical outcome.

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