Jan Gerris

• Ghent University

KEY MESSAGE Salivary oestradiol testing correlates well to serum-based assessment. Saliva oestradiol and progesterone values, around the time of trigger, can vary in response to ovarian stimulation and vary from patient to patient. Saliva-based hormone tests may become the preferred method of hormone monitoring for fertility treatments in the futur...

Patient-Centered Assisted Reproduction - edited by Alice D. Domar March 2020

Inactivating variants in the centrosomal CEP78 gene have been found in cone‐rod dystrophy with hearing loss (CRDHL), a particular phenotype distinct from Usher syndrome. Here, we identified and functionally characterized the first CEP78 missense variant c.449T>C, p.(Leu150Ser) in three CRDHL families. The variant was found in a biallelic state in t...

Aim of the study: Investigation of the correlation between serum estradiol (E2), salivary E2 and sonographic measurements of follicles in women undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) for IVF/ICSI. Methods: This is a prospective study performed at the Department of Reproductive Medicine of Ghent University Hospital (Belgium) between Nove...

Objective To examine advantages and disadvantages as perceived by patients and their partners using home sonography for monitoring ovarian stimulation prior to artificial fertility treatment. Method We interviewed 25 patients and their partners and took 44 online questionnaires. All interviews were written out and the transcripts were coded, based...

Introduction Serial measurements of the number of follicles and their growth by ultrasound is a standard way of monitoring fertility treatments using controlled ovarian stimulation. This is stressful for both the patient and the professional. Self-operated endovaginal telemonitoring (SOET) is more patient friendly and less time-consuming. Aim of t...

Aim of the study To examine saliva- and serum concentrations correlation of estradiol (E2) in women undergoing ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF/ICSI. Saliva measurements could simplify stimulation follow up. A ‘home’ test for E2 could be useful. Methods Prospective interventional academic monocentric study at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine o...

Purpose of review: Traditionally, ovarian stimulation for IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection is performed by healthcare professionals, requiring the patient to make frequent visits to these centres. We describe the rationale, research findings and early clinical experience with home-based sonography for IVF patients. Recent findings: Published...

Approximately five million children have been born worldwide as a result of assisted reproductive technology (ART). These techniques are now practised independently in most of the world's nations. Although the vast majority of ART parents and children are healthy following the procedures involved, there is an imperative to maintain a high standard...

Background/aims A large proportion of men with normal sperm results as analyzed using conventional techniques have fragmented DNA in their spermatozoa. We performed a prospective study to examine the incidence of DNA fragmentation in sperm in cases of couples with previously unexplained infertility and treated with intrauterine insemination. We eva...

This manuscript summarizes the evidence of noncontraceptive benefits associated with the use of hormonal contraceptives as a possible treatment and prevention for frequently occurring gynaecological problems. Hormonal contraceptives are one of the most prescribed medications. Their main goal is pregnancy prevention, but they also offer health benef...

Introduction: Controlled ovarian hyper-stimulation for in vitro fertilization or intra cytoplasmatic sperm injection necessitates close monitoring using ultrasound and estradiol measurements. Monitoring is also important to prevent or limit the severity of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome, an iatrogenic and potentially life-threatening complicat...

Objective cohort study describing clinical and laboratory outcomes in ICSI patients using self-operated endovaginal tele-monitoring (SOET). Setting University department of reproductive medicine. Patients 78 patients undergoing 100 consecutive ICSI attempts. Interventions patients’ recorded vaginal sonograms and sent recordings using the cloud b...

Originated as a mainly social group of befriended colleagues, the VVOG has evolved over the past 55 years to become a truly professional society facing successfully such diverse challenges as organizing scientific congresses, postgraduate training, ethical debates, hands-on training courses, social events, interactions with national and internation...

Background Several retrospective studies have evaluated seasonal variations in the outcome of IVF treatment. Some also included weather conditions, mostly temperature and hours of daylight. The results were conflicting. Methods In a retrospective study we analysed all fresh cycles (N = 9865) that were started between January 1, 2007 and December 3...

Findings on women’s sexuality across the menstrual cycle are inconsistent. One relatively consistent finding is a mid-cycle and premenstrual peak in sexual desire in freely cycling women. Results on the cycle-related effects of sexual behaviour are less clear. Large proportions of reproductive-aged women use combined oral contraception (COC), but s...

Recente gegevens over de gezondheid van subfertiele mannen en de aanbevelingen van internationale expertgroepen duiden aan dat mannelijke subfertiliteit een symptoom is, een top van een ijsberg als het ware. Daarom is een gerichte aanpak sterk aan te raden vooral bij mannen met een lage spermaconcentratie (< 10 miljoen zaadcellen/ml) of in de aanwe...

Variation in the level of mtDNA heteroplasmy in adult tissues is commonly seen in patients with a mixture of wild-type and mutant mtDNA. A mixture of different mtDNA variants may influence such variation and cause mtDNA segregation bias. We analyzed cellular heterogeneity in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) derived from a polymorphic mouse model contain...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common autosomal recessive disorders in the European populations. 98% of the patients with CF are infertile or at least subfertile due to congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD). This manuscript reviews the relationship between CF and CBAVD. Due to techniques such as surgical sperm aspiration...

Gonadotropin therapy and laparoscopic ovarian drilling (LOD) are treatment options for ovulation induction (OI) in clomiphene citrate (CC)-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. The current evidence of the cost-effectiveness of both treatments is scarce, conflicting and performed from different health-economic perspectives. A retrospe...

To investigate the applicability of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), we used trophectoderm (TE) biopsy to determine the mutation load in a 35–year-old female with mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like syndrome (MELAS). Transfer of a mutation-free blastocyst gave birth to a healthy boy with undetectable mutation in an...

To evaluate and compare mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) carry-over and embryonic development potential between different nuclear transfer techniques we performed germinal vesicle nuclear transfer (GV NT), metaphase-II spindle-chromosome-complex (MII-SCC) transfer and pronuclear transfer (PNT) in mice. No detectable mtDNA carry-over was seen in most of th...

Socio-demographic heterogamy is commonly believed to lead to lower relationship stability due to the presence of cultural differences between partners. This explanation lacks empirical support, as psychology studies have not confirmed the link between heterogamy and cultural differences, whereas sociological studies have been characterized by probl...

STUDY QUESTION Does self-operated endovaginal telemonitoring (SOET) of the ovarian stimulation phase in IVF/ICSI produce similar laboratory, clinical, patient reported and health-economic results as traditional monitoring (non-SOET)?

STUDY QUESTION Do overweight women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a higher risk of perinatal complications than normal weight women with PCOS?

Abstract In a non-randomized, comparative prospective study (416 patients) we compared the outcome of IVF/ICSI in two parallel control groups: one in which patients were followed up using combined monitoring (ultrasound plus serum estradiol monitoring, the UHM group) and one in which only ultrasound monitoring was used (the UM group). This study ha...

The negative impact of rising progesterone levels on pregnancy rates is well known, but data on mature oocyte yield are conflicting. We examined whether delaying the oocyte maturation trigger in IVF/ICSI affected the number of mature oocytes and investigated the potential influence of serum progesterone levels in this process. Methods: Between Janu...

What is the reliability of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) based on polar body (PB), blastomere or trophectoderm (TE) analysis in a heteroplasmic mitochondrial mouse model? The reliability of PGD to determine the level of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy is questionable based on either the first or second PB analysis; however, PGD bas...

Klinische andrologie is een niet-erkend specialisme dat nochtans zeer diverse klinische uitdagingen kent, namelijk mannelijke reproductieve, seksuologische en endocriene problemen. Een goed georkestreerd samenspel tussen professionals uit verschillende disciplines (gynaecologie, endocrinologie, urologie, genetica en oncologie) en paramedische gebie...

Abstract The Pill has undergone many changes since its first appearance some 50 years ago. Key developments included the reduction of ethinylestradiol doses and the synthesis of new progestins in order to increase safety, compliance and efficiency. Low-dose combined oral contraceptives (COCs) are currently the preferred option for millions of women...

Aims: We define criteria to predict the number of mature oocytes using automated three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound follicle measurements. Methods: Fifty in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection patients underwent automated 3D echographic monitoring by a single researcher following the stimulation procedure. Classic criteria for tr...

The effect of educational differences between partners on marital quality and stability is commonly analysed using difference, or compound measures. This article considers the theoretical foundations for these approaches and examines an alternative approach, diagonal reference models (DRMs). The three methods are then compared empirically, using da...

Since very little research in this field is available, this study aims to assess the role of psychosexual, relationship, hormonal and genetic measures in the sexual desire of users of three hormonal contraceptive products [low-dose combined oral contraceptive (20 mcg ethinylestradiol/150 mcg desogestrel), progestin-only pill (75 mcg desogestrel) an...

Summary Parthenogenetic activation of oocytes is a helpful tool to obtain blastocysts, of which the inner cell mass may be used for derivation of embryonic stem cells. In order to improve activation and embryonic development after parthenogenesis, we tried to use sperm injection and subsequent removal of the sperm head to mimic the natural Ca2+ inc...

Background Small molecule inhibitors are organic components that modulate signalling pathways and have the ability to change the differentiation state of cells. They have been used to increase the efficiency of induced pluripotent stem cell generation and to support stem cell derivation and culture. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects...

Despite the success of ICSI, total fertilization failure (TFF) still occurs in 1-3% of all ICSI cycles. ICSI followed by assisted oocyte activation (ICSI-AOA) can restore fertilization, most efficiently in cases of sperm-related fertilization deficiency. The indication for ICSI-AOA is less obvious when the capacity of the sperm to activate oocytes...

To analyze the prevalence and type of karyotype abnormalities in RIF patients and to evaluate the adequate timing for analysis and the presence of possible risk factors. 615 patients (317 women and 298 men) with RIF, having undergone at least 3 sequential failed IVF/ICSI cycles prior to karyotype analysis, were included in this study. Anomaly rates...

Recently, there has been a marked increase in the use of Single Embryo Transfer (SET) subsequent to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), with the aim of reducing the risk of multiple gestations. However, critics have stated that by reducing the number of embryos transferred, a group of women with an a priori red...

To investigate the link between attachment to parents and delinquency, and the potential moderating effects of age and sex, 74 published and unpublished manuscripts (N = 55,537 participants) were subjected to a multilevel meta-analysis. A mean small to moderate effect size was found (r = 0.18). Poor attachment to parents was significantly linked to...

Introduction Individuals perceiving high social support tend to perceive better adjustment to infertility. However, it remains unclear whether this benefit is affected by the actual disclosure of the infertility condition. Because mental health professionals and physicians are often confronted with the question of whether or not their patients shou...

Parental influence on children's values is usually examined by direct value transmission. In addition to the direct transmission, this study investigates two alternative routes of parental influences: (1) an indirect link between parents' and children's value orientations via parenting behaviors (based on the identification perspective) and (2) a d...

To create a pool of frozen donated human oocytes and find the optimal stage for slow controlled-rate freezing of human in vitro matured oocytes. Oocytes at different developmental stages of maturation (germinal vesicle, metaphase I, or metaphase II) and oocytes that failed to fertilize after IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were froze...

Diseases associated with point mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are maternally inherited. We evaluated whether pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, based on polar body mutation load detection could be used to distinguish healthy from affected oocytes. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used and validated, to deter...

BACKGROUND In some couples, not all retrieved oocytes mature, even after prolonged in vitro culture. The underlying mechanisms are not known, although ionophore treatment may alleviate metaphase I (MI) arrest in some mouse strains. We attempted to induce first polar body (PB) extrusion and fertilization using assisted oocyte activation (AOA) after...

OBJECTIVE: Cryopreservation of supernumerary embryos resulting from IVF treatment offers extra chances to conceive. The objective of this study is to describe patients' decisions to continue or discontinue storage of their embryos after a minimum storage period of 2 years. METHODS: Female patients who had embryos stored at the Infertility Centre of...

Conflicting results have been reported regarding the use of polarized microscopy as a predictive tool for human oocyte quality. Oocytes from 121 ICSI cycles were analysed with polarized microscopy. Both qualitative (spindle presence) and quantitative (retardance) data were correlated to the key assisted reproduction technology outcome parameters. S...

The present study examines the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between fathers' and mothers' parenting styles and male and female delinquency using a sample of 330 Dutch families with a mid or late adolescent son or daughter (ages 14-22), followed across two measurement waves with a 5-year interval. Parenting styles of fathers and mot...

The aim of the present study was (1) to examine the longitudinal effect of negative and positive affect in the parent-child, marital and sibling relationship on adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, and (2) to compare the strengths of these effects for the different family relationships, for internalizing and externalizing problems,...

Micro-invasive surgery is the corner stone in the diagnostic work-up of non palpable breast lesions and should be applied to the majority of the cases. Further management will depend on the pathological result. A correlation with preoperative radiologic findings is very important. An open excisional biopsy is recommended whenever pathologic examina...

IVF treatments are a major cause of multiple pregnancies, leading to several health risks or health issues. Thus, since July 2003, a restrictive policy on the number of embryos to transfer was introduced in Belgium, linked to the reimbursement of 6 attempts per patient. Depending on a number of conditions, such as the age of the patient, the embryo...

Appendix 3: Characteristics of couples at randomisation by trial

Appendix 2: Amount of missing data by randomised group

Appendix 1: Search strategy used for identification of studies

To compare the effectiveness of elective single embryo transfer versus double embryo transfer on the outcomes of live birth, multiple live birth, miscarriage, preterm birth, term singleton birth, and low birth weight after fresh embryo transfer, and on the outcomes of cumulative live birth and multiple live birth after fresh and frozen embryo trans...

Parthenogenetic reconstruction is one major strategy to create patient-specific stem cells. The aim of this study was to find the best artificial activation protocol for parthenogenetic activation of mouse and human oocytes comparing different methods. In a first set of experiments, in-vivo matured mouse oocytes and human failed-fertilized, in-vitr...

Ziektegeschiedenis Patiënt A, een 17-jarig meisje dat aan het syndroom van Down lijdt komt samen met haar moeder op consultatie. Ze heeft last van over-vloedige en pijnlijke menses. Ze heeft een intelligentiequotiënt (IQ) van 40 en elke maand vormen de menses een probleem. Het gebruik van de contraceptieve pil is, gezien de dagelijkse inname, prakt...

Introduction: In many cases, the underlying cause of embryo arrest, implantation failure or miscarriage is likely to be the presence of chromosomal abnormalities (aneuploidy). The high prevalence of aneuploidy in human oocytes has been recognized for more than a quarter of a century and numerous studies have since confirmed that oocytes, and the p...

Introduction: Third-party reproduction engages couples on a journey necessitating in-depth psychological adjustments, mainly the acceptance of sterility and of the donor's role in the procreation of a child. In countries requiring open-identity donors, disclosure to the offspring includes the possibility of a future meeting with the donor, reinfor...

Introduction: For parthenogenetic blastocyst formation, oocytes can be artificially activated by different physical and chemical stimuli. The main disadvantage of most parthenogenetic activating agents is that they cause a single rise in cytosolic Ca2 + concentrations, different from the Ca2 + oscillations seen during fertilization. In order to im...

In this study links between spousal and parent-child relationships among Finnish (n = 157 couples) and Dutch (n = 276 couples) dual earners with young children were examined using paired questionnaire data. Variable-oriented analyses (structural equation modeling with a multigroup procedure) supported the spillover hypothesis, as higher levels of s...

The role of the gynaecologist in the treatment of female-to-male transsexual patients is largely confined to hysterectomy and vaginectomy. We showed that laparoscopic hysterectomy is feasible and safe in this group. When surgery is not performed completely, follow-up of the remaining organs is necessary. The major part of this thesis deals with the...

Aim of the study: With this study, we wanted to examine the needs of men with fertility problems in terms of communication, care and coping with the diagnosis. Methodology: data gathered prospectively by means of a written questionnaire (quantitative data), and semi-structured interviews (qualitative data). Sample: 78 subfertile men who consulted f...

Interviews were conducted with patients undergoing treatment at the department for reproductive medicine at the University Hospital of Ghent, Belgium to describe how patients think about the use of embryos for science and how patients' views are related to their decision whether or not to donate their supernumerary embryos for science. Most partici...

The present study investigated the effects of husbands' and wives' Big-Five personality characteristics on their own (i.e., actor effects) as well as on their partner's (i.e., partner effects) degree of trust in one another. Data were collected from 288 husband–wife couples with at least two adolescent children. Both self-reported and partner-repor...

Thanks to assisted reproduction technology (ART) most couples with infertility can be helped today. Since the beginning of ART, however, two major problems have existed. In the first years of IVF more than one embryo was transferred in order to reach acceptable pregnancy rates, but this entails a risk of multiple pregnancy with all its morbidity an...

Although IVF treatments using cryopreserved embryos are offered by most infertility centres, little is known about patients' opinions regarding treatment using these embryos. The objective of this study is to describe how patients think about (treatment with) cryopreserved embryos. In-depth interviews based on the method of interpretative phenomeno...

In research on value similarity and transmission between parents and adolescents, no consensus exists on the level of value similarity. Reports of high-value similarities coexist with reports of low-value similarities within the family. The present study shows that different conclusions may be explained by the use of different measurement strategie...

The need for serial vaginal sonographies to monitor ovarian stimulation for artificial reproductive technology (ART) treatments remains a major practical and organizational drawback both for patients and health-care providers. We explore the possibility of patients and/or their partners performing their own vaginal sonographies at home. To make thi...

The primary objective was to describe the neovaginal cytology in transsexual patients (n = 50) treated with the inverted penile skin technique. Secondary objectives were to compare our cytological findings with patient characteristics including use of oestrogens, sexual orientation and penetrative intercourse. The medical and surgical history, sexu...

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, account...

In mammals, oocyte activation at fertilization is thought to be induced by the sperm-specific phospholipase C zeta (PLCzeta). However, it still remains to be conclusively shown that PLCzeta is the endogenous agent of oocyte activation. Some types of human infertility appear to be caused by failure of the sperm to activate and this may be due to spe...

This study applied the gender role model of socialization theory, the developmental aging theory, and the topic salience perspective to the investigation of parent-child value transmissions. Specifically, we examined whether the bi-directionality and selectivity of value transmissions differed as a function of parents' and children's gender and chi...

Previous research has not yet integrated determinants of youth delinquency at the city, neighbourhood and individual levels simultaneously. In this study we derived hypotheses from social disorganization theory at the city level as well as at the neighbourhood level. We use individual-level data from 11 cities in the Netherlands, supplemented with...

In deze longitudinale studie zijn sekseverschillen onderzocht in het verband tussen opvoedingsstijlen en delinquent gedrag. Hiervoor werden bij 330 Nederlandse jongeren vragenlijsten afgenomen tijdens de adolescentie en de jongvolwassenheid. Ook werd een vragenlijst afgenomen bij de ouders van de jongeren. Moeders bleken verschillende opvoedingssti...

The microflora of the penile skin-lined neovagina in male-to-female transsexuals is a recently created microbial niche which thus far has been characterized only to a very limited extent. Yet the knowledge of this microflora can be considered as essential to the follow-up of transsexual women. The primary objective of this study was to map the neo-...

Data on the necessity of performing screening mammographies in transsexual women are lacking. The main objective of this study was to assess the possibility to perform mammography and breast sonography in transsexual women. Fifty Dutch-speaking transsexual women were interviewed about the following: attitude towards mammography and breast sonograph...

To assess feasibility and diagnostic performance of prostate examination through transvaginal palpation and transvaginal ultrasound in transsexual women (TSW). Fifty TSW who were at least 6 months' posttransition were recruited in a University Hospital. Speculum examination and digital vaginal examination were performed by a gynecologist. Transvagi...

In many contemporary families, both parents are involved in paid work and family responsibilities. This creates challenges for the successful reconciliation of work and family. In this study, we examined whether and how the division of paid work and unpaid work between partners is related to work-family interference. Analyses were based on survey d...

A conceptual model was developed of the impact of ovarian stimulation on women's functioning and wellbeing. A patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure was generated based on this model. Qualitative measures used comprised a discussion guide and coding system devised according to the Food and Drug Administration guidelines for developing PRO measures....

Using structural equation modeling, this study investigates father–child, mother–child, and father–mother transmissions on “work-as-duty” and “hedonism” across a 5-year period when children traverse late adolescence and emerging adulthood (N = 402 families). We found bidirectional father–child and child-to-mother transmissions on work-as-duty and c...