Does PCOS cause poor egg/embryo quality?
It is undeniable that women with PCOS undergoing IVF commonly produce a disproportionate number of poor quality eggs with reduced fertilization potential and which upon fertilization can produce embryos with poor developmental potential. However, rather than being due to the eggs of PCOS women having an intrinsic defect, such poor embryo quality is much more likely to be the consequence of excessive local varian production of androgen hormones, aggravated by severe ovarian hyperstimulation. Increased androgen hormone production can be limited through the selective use of customized low-gonadotropin dose ovarian stimulation protocols. This will reduce exposure of developing follicles (and the eggs they harbor) to excessive ovarian androgens. Such protocols should be designed to suppress the woman’s LH production throughout the duration of ovarian stimulation with gonadotropins. This in turn will reduce androgen hormone release by the ovarian stroma. At the same time, administration of h
