ABSTRACT
Coasting is the most popular method among physicians to prevent ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)1. This is absolutely true whether the patient is undergoing in vitro fertil ization (IVF) in the United States or in Europe. Withholding gonadotropins and delaying the administration of human chorionic gonado tropin (hCG) have been employed in ovulation induction since the late 1980s and early 1990s2-5. Shortly afterwards, coasting was used to prevent severe OHSS in IVF cycles6. More than 15 studies (Tables 1-3) have been pub lished, and several reviews have critically eval uated the effect of coasting on OHSS1’7-9. In this chapter, the advantages and the mechanism of action of coasting are discussed in detail. The impact of the points of initiation and termina tion of coasting as well as the duration are ana lyzed for the various publications based on our previous reviews and critical analyses10,11.
