Patients baseline characteristics.

age, body mass index (BMI), serum oestradiol level on day of hCG, number of retrieved oocytes; proportions of degenerated oocytes, metaphase I oocytes (MI), metaphase II oocytes (MII), fertilized oocytes, unfertilized metaphase II oocytes (MII-NF) and metaphase II oocytes developed to the blastocyst stage (MII-BL). Significance of differences between the two treatment groups was assessed using Student's t-test; two-tailed p-values are shown.