Management of Women with Clomifene Citrate Resistant Polycystic Ovary Syndrome – An Evidence Based Approach

Abstract

World Health Organisation (WHO) type II anovulation is defined as normogonadotrophic normoestrogenic anovulation and occurs in approximately 85% of anovulatory patients. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common form of WHO type II anovulatory infertility and is associated with hyperandrogenemia (1,2). Moreover, PCOS is the most common endocrine abnormality in reproductive age women. The prevalence of PCOS is traditionally estimated at 4% to 8% from studies performed in Greece, Spain and the USA (3-6). The prevalence of PCOS has increased with the use of different diagnostic criteria and has recently been shown to be 11.9 ± 2.4% -17.8 ± 2.8 in the first community-based prevalence study based on the current Rotterdam diagnostic criteria compared with 10.2 ± 2.2% -12.0 ± 2.4% and 8.7 ± 2.0% using National Institutes of Health criteria and Androgen Excess Society recommendations respectively (7). Importantly, 70% of women in this recent study were undiagnosed (7).