Comparison of pregnancy outcomes of progesterone or progesterone plus estradiol for luteal phase support in ICSI-ET cycles

Objective: To find out the effect of estradiol with progesterone for luteal phase support in IVF-ICSI cycles. Materials and Methods: Patients were accepted for treatment in the ART unit of Selcuk University, Meram Faculty of Medicine, between January 2001 and March 2003. The study was done in a prospective manner. The age range of 252 women was 19 - 41 years and the total number of cycles was 310. All patients were treated with a long ovulation induction protocol. Patients were treated and divided into two groups in a randomized manner: group I used only 600 mg/day divided into three equal doses of micronized progesterone vaginally, and group II used transdermal estradiol 100 mug/day + 600 mg/day vaginal micronized progesterone. Results: 310 ICSI cycles were carried out in 252 infertile couples between January 2001 and March 2003. From 22 of these cycles, oocytes were retrieved but no embryos were developed. In the remaining 288 cycles there were embryo transfers. All embryo development was achieved by ICSI treatment. In 148 out of 288 cycles, the luteal phase was supported only by vaginal micronized progesterone ( group I). On the other hand, the remaining 140 cycles received vaginal micronized progesterone plus transdermal estradiol 100 mug/day ( group II). The number of beta-hCG-positive results in group I and group II were 20 (13.5 %) and 54 (38.5%) respectively. Conclusion: Adding estradiol to progesterone for luteal phase support in ICSI-ET cycles may increase implantation and pregnancy rates. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel.