F. Ubaldi et al., OOCYTE AND EMBRYO QUALITY AS WELL AS PREGNANCY RATE IN INTRACYTOPLASMIC SPERM INJECTION ARE NOT AFFECTED BY HIGH FOLLICULAR PHASE SERUM PROGESTERONE, Human reproduction, 10(12), 1995, pp. 3091-3096
The effect of elevated serum progesterone concentrations (>1 ng/l) on
or before the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) injection on
the outcome of women receiving gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogu
e (GnRHa)/human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) for ovarian stimulation
prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was evaluated, A tot
al of 1275 ICSI cycles were analysed retrospectively. In 53 cycles (4.
5%), serum progesterone concentrations were > 1 ng/ml. Patients in the
high progesterone group had significantly higher oestradiol and lutei
nizing hormone concentrations on the day of HCG injection. The charact
eristics of the cumulus-corona cell complexes and the nuclear maturity
of the oocytes were similar in the groups of patients with high and l
ow serum progesterone levels, Fertilization and cleavage rates as well
as embryo quality were not different in the two groups, No difference
in implantation or clinical pregnancy rates was observed between the
high progesterone and low progesterone groups, Moreover, the cumulativ
e exposure to progesterone during the follicular phase, as expressed b
y the area under the curve (AUG), and the duration of exposure to high
serum progesterone levels (>1 ng/ml) were not significantly different
between pregnant and nonpregnant women in the high progesterone group
, We conclude that in ICSI cycles pretreated with GnRHa, increased ser
um progesterone concentrations on or before the day of HCG injection d
o not affect ICSI outcome.