Effects of different amounts of LH on superovulation induction with long-acting GnRH in an IVF program.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether different doses of exogenous LH affect IVF outcome.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of two consecutive trials.

SETTING

Infertility Unit of 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Milan, Italy.

PATIENTS

Two groups of 40 eumennorrheic patients matched for age and indications for in vitro fertilization.

INTERVENTION

After suppression with a GnRH analogue, both groups received equal amounts of FSH in the first five days of stimulation; after this, the proportions of LH administered were doubled in one group because a different preparation was in use.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The following observations were compared: number of scans (days to hCG), number of oocytes retrieved, fertilization rate, quality and number of embryos transferred, pregnancy and abortion rate.

RESULTS

Doubling the amount of LH administered does not affect any outcome measure except the number of days of stimulation needed prior to hCG administration.

CONCLUSIONS

No significant difference was seen in terms of number of oocytes, embryo number and quality, pregnancy and abortion rate. The only difference was the length of the stimulation phase.