Objective To describe and analyse the factors affecting the pregnancy rate of laparoscopic ovarian Design A retrospective study.Setting A specialist infertility clinic based at a teaching hospital in England.Population One hundred and eighteen women, for whom hospital records and follow up data were available, with polycystic ovarian syndrome who underwent laparoscopic ovarian surgery for anovulatory infertility over a five year period, between January 1991 and December 1995.dnlling for polycystic ovarian syndrome in women with anovulatory infertility.Main outcome measures Ovulation and pregnancy rate. ResultsThe cumulative conception rate 12 months after the treatment was 54% . Women who conceived following the surgery had a shorter duration of infertility, were treated with diathermy (rather than laser), had higher pre-operative lutehising hormone levels, were younger and were more likely to have ultrasonographic evidence of polycystic ovarian disease. Logistic multiple regression analysis showed that the duration of infertility, modality used in treatment (laser or diathermy) and the preoperative levels were the main determinants of the outcome. ConclusionWomen with polycystic ovarian syndrome respond favourably to laparoscopic ovarian drilling. The success rate in women with infertility duration of less than three years, treated with diathermy, in whom the pre-operative level was more than 10 IU/L reached 79%.

Objective To describe and analyse the factors affecting the pregnancy rate of laparoscopic ovarian drilling for polycystic ovarian syndrome in women with anovulatory infertility. Design A retrospective study. Setting A specialist infertility clinic based at a teaching hospital in England. Population One hundred and eighteen women, for whom hospital records and follow up data were available, with polycystic ovarian syndrome who underwent laparoscopic ovarian surgery for anovulatory infertility over a five year period, between January 1991 and December 1995. Main Outcome measures Ovulation and pregnancy rate. Results The cumulative conception rate 12 months after the treatment was 54%. Women who conceived following the surgery had a shorter duration of infertility, were treated with diathermy (rather than laser), had higher pre‐operative luteinising hormone levels, were younger and were more likely to have ultrasonographic evidence of polycystic ovarian disease. Logistic multiple regression analysis showed that the duration of infertility, modality used in treatment (laser or diathermy) and the preoperative levels were the main determinants of the outcome. Conclusion Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome respond favourably to laparoscopic ovarian drilling. The success rate in women with infertility duration of less than three years, treated with diathermy, in whom the pre‐operative level was more than 10 IU/L reached 79%.

Angiogenesis is essential to the survival, growth, invasion, and metastasis of various human solid tumors. We compared the microvessel density (MVD) and clinicopathologic features of two different groups of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), namely HCC with cirrhosis (HCC-C) and without cirrhosis (HCC-NC). A tissue microarray composed of 20 normal livers, 20 cirrhotic livers, tumor and adjacent background non-neoplastic liver tissues from 20 HCC-C and 20 HCC-NC were constructed and stained immunohistochemically with antibodies against the antigen CD34. The MVD was determined by the measurement of the area and density of CD34 positive sinusoidal endothelial cells using the Image Pro Plus software. There was a trend of increased MVD in cirrhotic liver compared to normal liver and in cirrhotic background non-neoplastic liver adjacent to the tumor compared to the non-cirrhotic background non-neoplastic liver. Tumor tissue of HCC-C and HCC-NC both showed significantly higher MVD than their adjacent background non-neoplastic liver tissue. There was no statistical difference in MVD between HCC-C and HCC-NC. A higher value of MVD was seen in tumors of intermediate size (5–10 cm), high histologic grade, the presence of lymphvascular space invasion, and the underlying etiology of hepatitis C and alcoholic steatohepatitis. This data indicates that MVD may play an important role in liver carcinogenesis and neoplastic progression. The difference in clinical behavior between HCC-C and HCC-NC does not seem to be associated with differences in tumor MVD. Objective measurement of MVD using standardized computer software could potentially be used as a clinical marker to predict patients’ prognosis.