THE ROLE OF HIGH FOLLICULAR LEVELS OF ANGIOTENSIN II AND VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR IN ANTICIPATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE OVARIAN HYPERSTIMULATION SYNDROME IN PATIENTS WITH PROPHYLACTIC CABERGOLINE THERAPY UNDERGOING AN FERTILIZATION PROCEDURE.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Severe Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) forms with very aggressive clinical evolution are still common, despite prophylactic measures. Besides the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), there are other angiogenic factors, like Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAS), that might be associated with this disorder. Our study aims to evaluate the role of VEGF and Angiotensin II (ANG II) in the development of early severe OHSS, in high risk patients under prophylactic Cabergoline therapy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We recruited 192 patients undergoing fertilization (IVF) procedures with high risk for OHSS development. Out of these, 106 patients with OHSS were enrolled in the study, of which 28 subjects had a severe form of disease (group I), and 78 patients had a mild/moderate form (group II). We collected blood and follicular fluid from our study participants and determined serum and follicular VEGF and ANG II levels using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique.

RESULTS

Follicular VEGF, ANG II, and serum VEGF levels were significantly higher in group I group II. Serum VEGF titers were 645.97 548.62 (p = 0.0008), follicular VEGF titers were 2919.52 1093.68 (p < 0.0001), and follicular ANG II levels were 281.64 65.76 (p < 0.0001). No significant differences have been shown between the two groups for serum ANG II levels.

CONCLUSION

Our study results provide evidence of a OHSS phenotype that is more prone to undergo severe clinical forms of disease, despite treatments with VEGF receptor blockers, and show that ANG II appears to play a major role alongside VEGF, in the development of these severe forms of disease.