Kisspeptin triggered IVF eggs without the dangerous overstimulation

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome can send fluid into the abdomen and lungs of women who respond too strongly to fertility drugs. Researchers at Imperial College London tested whether a different trigger, the hormone kisspeptin, could mature eggs without setting off that reaction.

In a peer-reviewed dose-finding trial at Hammersmith Hospital, 60 women already flagged as high risk received a single injection of kisspeptin-54 instead of the standard trigger. Eggs matured in 95 percent of the women, and across the trial no woman developed moderate, severe or critical ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

That mattered because high-risk patients are often told to freeze every embryo or delay treatment rather than risk hospitalization. A later randomized trial from the same team tested a second kisspeptin dose a day later and found it improved egg maturation further without reviving the risk. It has not replaced the standard trigger in routine IVF.

A safer trigger for a dangerous risk.