***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: In a prospect i ve r and omized trial , 73 patients received prednisolone , 7.5 mg daily , for one cycle in addition to Clomid and /or gonadotrophins , while another 73 patients were not given the corticosteroid .  In-vitro fertilization ( IVF ) result ed in 16 versus six clinical pregnancies in the prednisolone and the non-prednisolone group , respectively ( P less than 0.05 ) . Oestrogen was significantly higher under prednisolone during the ovulatory phase , while LH was significantly lower . The adrenal and rogen dehydroepi and rosterone sulphate was markedly depressed by prednisolone and testosterone was also markedly lower in the prednisolone group . A stress-related and rogen excess might occur in some patients undergoing IVF with consequent cystic degeneration of some follicles as in polycystic ovarian disease . Prednisolone might counteract this detrimental effect by depressing adrenal and ovarian and rogens OBJECTIVE To verify whether advantages can derive from the implementation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy in patients with a poor prognosis of full-term pregnancy , compared with conventional treatment procedures . DESIGN A r and omized , controlled study . SETTING Reproductive Medicine Unit of the Società Italiana Studi Medicina della Riproduzione , Bologna , Italy . PATIENT(S ) In a total of 262 stimulated cycles , women presented with the following poor-prognosis indications : maternal age of > or = 36 years ( n = 157 ) , > or =3 previous IVF failures ( n = 54 ) , and an altered karyotype ( n = 51 ) . After giving consent , 127 patients underwent preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy , whereas 135 controls underwent assisted zona hatching . INTERVENTION(S ) Analysis of chromosomes XY , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 21 , and 22 was carried out with the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique in a blastomere biopsied from day 3 embryos . Assisted zona hatching was performed on day 3 embryos from the control group . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S ) Embryo morphology and chromosomal status , number of transferred embryos , clinical pregnancies , implantation rates , and abortions . RESULT ( S ) In the study group , 717 embryos were analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization , and 60 % were chromosomally abnormal . A mean of 2.3+/-0.9 euploid embryos were transferred in 99 cycles , result ing in 37 clinical pregnancies ( 37 % ) and a 22.5 % ongoing implantation rate . In the control group , 126 cycles were performed with 3.2+/-1.3 embryos transferred , yielding 34 clinical pregnancies ( 27 % ) and a 10.2 % ongoing implantation rate . CONCLUSION ( S ) The advantage of selecting embryos with a normal chromosome complement has an immediate impact on the ongoing implantation rate , especially in patients aged > or = 38 years and carriers of an altered karyotype BACKGROUND Cancellation of assisted conception cycles because of poor ovarian response to gonadotrophins is a significant problem in assisted reproduction . Various adjuvant treatments have been suggested to improve responsiveness . This study reports on the potential benefits of low dose dexamethasone . METHODS Patients < 40 years of age were invited to participate in a twin centre prospect i ve double blind r and omized placebo controlled study . A total of 290 patients were recruited and computer r and omized using sealed envelopes to receive either 1 mg dexamethasone ( n = 145 ) or placebo tablets ( n = 145 ) in addition to a st and ard long protocol gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue with gonadotrophin stimulation regime . RESULTS A significantly lower cancellation rate for poor ovarian response was observed in the dexamethasone group compared with controls ( 2.8 versus 12.4 % respectively , P < 0.002 ) . Further comparisons between the dexamethasone group and controls were made of median fertilization rates ( 60 versus 61 % respectively , NS ) , implantation rates ( 16.3 versus 11.6 % respectively , NS ) and pregnancy rate per cycle started ( 26.9 versus 17.2 % , NS ) . The benefit was apparent in patients both with polycystic and normal ovaries . CONCLUSION Low dose dexamethasone co-treatment reduces the incidence of poor ovarian response . It may increase clinical pregnancy rates and should be considered for inclusion in stimulation regimes to optimize ovarian response Immunosuppression by exogenous corticosteroids has been used to improve the rates of embryo implantation and pregnancy in in-vitro fertilization ( IVF ) patients who have micromanipulated embryos replaced . The present study was conducted , in a prospect i ve design , to evaluate effects of corticosteroid on the pregnancy rate in IVF/embryo transfer patients who have non-micromanipulated embryos replaced . Infertile women < 40 years old with tubal factor were included in this study . Patients were grouped according to the different follicle stimulation protocol s , and received various doses of 16 beta-methylprednisolone ( 0 , 16 or 60 mg/day ) for 4 days from the day of oocyte retrieval . The mean age , duration of infertility , length of folliculogenesis and serum oestradiol concentrations at the time of human chorionic gonadotrophin ( HCG ) injection were not significantly different between control and corticosteroid-treated groups of patients . Short-term immunosuppression by 16 beta-methylprednisolone administration did not show any effects on the pregnancy and miscarriage rates in IVF/embryo transfer patients . Also , immunosuppression showed no dose effects in any groups . There was no relationship between the types of follicle stimulation protocol s and the effect of 16 beta-methylprednisolone . Therefore , we concluded that short-term immunosuppression by exogenous corticosteroids in IVF/embryo transfer patients who have embryos with intact zona pellucida replaced has neither positive nor negative effects on pregnancy rates OBJECTIVE To determine if the administration of glucocorticoids reduced the rate of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome ( OHSS ) in high-risk patients after ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization ( IVF ) . DESIGN Prospect i ve r and omized study . PATIENTS Thirty-one patients who were stimulated with human menopausal gonadotropin ( hMG ) after pituitary desensitization by gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and who developed greater than 20 follicles greater than 12 mm and /or had a serum estradiol ( E2 ) level of greater than 10,000 pmol/L on the day of administration of human chorionic gonadotropin ( hCG ) . INTERVENTIONS Patients were r and omly divided into two groups . Those who were r and omized to receive glucocorticoids ( group A ) ( n = 17 ) were administered intravenous hydrocortisone , 100 mg , immediately after ultrasound (US)-directed oocyte recovery . Prednisolone , 10 mg three times per day , was given for 5 days starting on the day of oocyte recovery followed by prednisolone 10 mg two times a day for 3 days and 10 mg/d for 2 days . Those in group B ( n = 14 ) did not receive any glucocorticoid treatment . In both groups , luteal support was provided by intramuscular injections of gestone 100 mg/d . RESULTS The two groups of patients were comparable in terms of age , duration of infertility , and total dose of hMG used . All had polycystic ovaries on US examination . On the day of hCG administration , the mean number of follicles in the two groups were 26.76 + /- 2.49 and 25.93 + /- 1.44 and the serum E2 concentration 13,404 + /- 710 and 13,915 + /- 901 pmol/L , respectively . There were no significant differences in the number of oocytes collected or in the fertilization , cleavage , and implantation rates in the two groups . The pregnancy rates per initiated cycle were 41.18 % and 35.71 % , respectively . Seven of the 17 patients ( 41.2 % ) who received glucocorticoids developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome compared with 6 of the 14 patients ( 42.9 % ) who did not receive glucocorticoids . CONCLUSIONS Administrations of glucocorticoids to high risk patients did not reduce the rate of OHSS after ovarian stimulation for IVF The effect of low dose immunosuppression with methylprednisolone during the first 4 days after oocyte retrieval on potential immune cell invasion of partially zona dissected embryos in utero was investigated in alternate in vitro fertilization patients ( n = 32 ) . The incidence of pregnancy was significantly higher in patients receiving methylprednisolone ( 7 of 18 , 39 % ) than in control patients ( 1 of 14 , 7 % ) . Twenty-eight percent ( 11 of 39 ) of the embryos replaced in the corticosteroid treated patients implanted , whereas only 7 % ( 2 of 31 ) of embryos in control patients had a fetal heart beat . There were no side effects reported in any of the patients receiving corticosteroids . It can be concluded that methylprednisolone supports implantation of embryos with small holes in their zonae . However , the actual mechanisms of corticosteroid support on the interaction between immune cells and micromanipulated embryos are not well understood Background Anti-thyroid antibodies ( ATA ) , even if not associated with thyroid dysfunction , are suspected to cause poorer outcome of in vitro fertilization ( IVF ) . Methods We retrospectively analyzed : ( a ) the prevalence of ATA in euthyroid infertile women , ( b ) IVF outcome in euthyroid , ATA+ patients , and ( c ) the effect of adjuvant treatments ( levothyroxine alone or associated with acetylsalicylic acid and prednisolone ) on IVF results in ATA+ patients . One hundred twenty-nine euthyroid , ATA+ women undergoing IVF were compared with 200 matched , ATA-controls . During IVF cycle , 38 ATA+ patients did not take any adjuvant treatment , 55 received levothyroxin ( LT ) , and 38 received LT + acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)+prednisolone ( P ) . Results The prevalence of ATA among euthyroid , infertile patients was 10.5 % , similar to the one reported in euthyroid women between 18 and 45 years . ATA+ patients who did not receive any adjuvant treatment showed significantly poorer ovarian responsiveness to stimulation and IVF results than controls . ATA+ patients receiving LT responded better to ovarian stimulation , but had IVF results as poor as untreated ATA+ women . Patients receiving LT+ASA+P had significantly higher pregnancy and implantation rates than untreated ATA+ patients ( PR/ET 25.6 % and IR 17.7 % vs. PR/ET 7.5 % and IR 4.7 % , respectively ) , and overall IVF results comparable to patients without ATA ( PR/ET 32.8 % and IR 19 % ) . Conclusion These observations suggest that euthyroid ATA+ patients undergoing IVF could have better outcome if given LT+ASA+P as adjuvant treatment . This hypothesis must be verified in further r and omized , prospect i ve studies A group of 78 infertile women , diagnosed as having tubal factor infertility only , was enrolled in a prospect i ve , r and omized study conducted to determine whether the addition of different doses of glucocorticoids to the protocol of ovulation induction for in-vitro fertilization ( IVF ) would be beneficial . Oocyte numbers , percentage of fertilization , oestradiol , luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone serum concentrations , number of embryo transfers and pregnancy rate were evaluated . Compared to control cycles ( group A ; n = 24 ) , the addition of 0.5 mg ( group B ; n = 27 ) of 1 mg dexamethasone ( group C ; n = 27 ) , combined with the protocol of programmed oocyte retrieval for IVF patients in the study , demonstrated equivalent results . The mean numbers of oocytes retrieved were 10.8 + /- 3.9 in the control group , compared to 11.2 + /- 4.0 in group B and 10.5 + /- 3.6 in group C. The fertilization rates were 69 + /- 21 , 66 + /- 18 and 70 + /- 15 % respectively . The pregnancy rates were 20 , 16 and 20.8 % respectively . The addition of up to 1 mg dexamethasone daily to the protocol of ovulation induction for oocyte retrieval did not improve the overall IVF-embryo transfer outcome in patients with tubal factor infertility BACKGROUND Glucocorticoids have been used in conjunction with zona dissection to improve pregn 
    Output:
    
There were no significant differences in adverse events , but these were poorly and inconsistently reported .
Overall , there was no clear evidence that administration of peri-implantation glucocorticoids in ART cycles significantly improved the clinical outcome .
These findings were limited to the routine use of glucocorticoids and can not be extrapolated to women with  autoantibodies , unexplained infertility or recurrent implantation failure .