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. 2017 Dec;34(12):1645-1651.
doi: 10.1007/s10815-017-1034-z. Epub 2017 Sep 4.

Retrospective analysis of treatments with recombinant FSH and recombinant LH versus human menopausal gonadotropin in women with reduced ovarian reserve

Mario Mignini Renzini  1 , Claudio Brigante  1 , Giovanni Coticchio  2 , Mariabeatrice Dal Canto  1 , Ilaria Caliari  1 , Ruggero Comi  1 , Elena De Ponti  3 , Rubens Fadini  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Retrospective analysis of treatments with recombinant FSH and recombinant LH versus human menopausal gonadotropin in women with reduced ovarian reserve

Mario Mignini Renzini et al. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2017 Dec.
Free PMC article

Abstract

Purposes: The aim of this study is to determine whether a clinical advantage is gained with use of LH in combination with FSH or as a component of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) to achieve optimal ovarian stimulation.

Methods: In this study, we compared retrospectively two regimens, r-FSH/r-LH and hMG, for the treatment of women with reduced ovarian reserve, identified as subjects with antral follicle count (AFC) < 11 and AMH ≤ 1.1 ng/ml.

Results: Overall, the clinical pregnancy per started cycle was higher in the r-FSH/r-LH group (12.5 vs. 8.1%, P < 0.02), while implantation (11.1 vs. 9.5%) and miscarriage rates (29.9 vs. 35.9%) were comparable. Data were further analysed performing separate comparisons in subpopulations with different ranges of AFC, i.e. < 4, 4-6 and 7-10. Major differences between the two regimens were observed in women with AFC < 4. In this subpopulation, not only was the clinical pregnancies per started cycle higher in the r-FSH/r-LH group (10.2 vs. 1.5%, P < 0.01), but also implantation was significantly higher (13.0 vs. 2.8%, P < 0.02).

Conclusions: A r-FSH/r-LH regimen appears to be beneficial for the treatment of women with extremely poor ovarian reserve. It should be considered however that, being retrospective, this study is affected by obvious limitations, such as post-treatment patient selection criteria and absence of randomisation.

Keywords: FSH; IVF; LH; Ovarian reserve; Ovarian stimulation; Poor responders; Pregnancy; hMG.

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Conflict of interest statement

The study was approved by the competent ethical committee (San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy). Written informed consent was obtained from all couples before starting treatment.

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