April 2016 · Volume 5 · Issue 4 Page 1134
International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Khalifa EEAE et al. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Apr;5(4):1134-1139
www.ijrcog.org
pISSN 2320-1770 | eISSN 2320-1789
Research Article
Fixed gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist protocol versus
gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist long protocol in patients with
polycystic ovary syndrome treated for intracytoplasmic
sperm injection cycles
Emad Eldin Abd Elrahman Khalifa, Yasser Ibrahim Orief, Tamer Hanafy Mahmoud Said*,
Doaa Abd Allah Abd Elmaksoud
INTRODUCTION
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common
cause of an ovulatory infertility characterized by chronic
anovulation and hyperandrogenism.
1
The current
diagnosis of PCOS is defined according to Rotterdam
criteria. Diagnosis depends on two of the following
criteria only; (1) clinical and/or biochemical evidence of
hyperandrogenism with exclusion of other causes of
androgen excess; (2) oligo or anovulation; (3) polycystic
ovaries by ultrasound (ovarian volume >12cc with 10 or
more follicles 2-8mm in diameter, arranged around
echodense stroma).
2
PCOS is also reported to be
associated with obesity, insulin resistance and type 2
diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, cardiovascular
disease and late menopause endometrial carcinoma.
6-10
Frequently encountered endocrine features are
hypersecretion of LH, hyperandrogenemia and
compensatory hyperinsulinaemia.
3,4
The optimal
infertility treatment for PCOS women is still a matter of
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt
Received: 02 February 2016
Accepted: 01 March 2016
*Correspondence:
Dr. Tamer Hanafy Mahmoud Said,
E-mail: tamerhanafy74@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
Background: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation
syndrome (OHSS) during ovarian stimulation. Use of GnRH antagonist in the general sub fertile population is
associated with lower incidence of (OHSS) than agonists and similar probability of live birth but it is unclear. Our
Objective was to compare the fixed GnRH antagonist and GnRH agonist long protocols in patients with PCOS
undergoing IVF.
Methods: In this randomized controlled trial (RCT), 200 patients with PCOS were randomly allocated in two groups:
long GnRH (n = 100) and fixed GnRH antagonist protocol (n = 100).
Results: There is significant difference was observed in chemical pregnancy rate (46.0% versus 31.0%), and clinical
pregnancy rate (43.0% versus 29.0%) in agonist and antagonist protocols, respectively. Duration of stimulation was
significantly higher in agonist group (13.58 versus 12.381 days), respectively. Total number of ampoules of
gonadotrophin is comparable in both groups (t=1.914, p=0.057).
Conclusions: The use of GnRH antagonists is more advantageous than GnRH agonists in relation to shorter duration
of stimulation thus allowing a reduction in the treatment time that makes COS less costly and better patient
compliance. In this study GnRH agonist shows higher pregnancy rate than antagonist, so larger studies needed to
clarify their roles.
Keywords: Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist, Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist, In-vitro
fertilization, Polycystic ovarian syndrome
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20160872