ARTIFICIAL HORMONAL REPLACEMENT CYCLES HAVE NO ADVANTAGE OVER HYPERSTIMULATED CYCLES IN A GAMETE INTRAFALLOPIAN TRANSFER OOCYTE DONATION PROGRAM

Objective: To evaluate if the previously reported increased implantati on rates in hormonally replaced egg donation cycles relative to hypers timulated IVF-ET cycles apply when GIFT is used. The increased implant ation rates in the recipients have been attributed to the absence of t he negative effects of hyperstimulation on endometrial receptivity. De sign: A prospective comparison of implantation rates in hyperstimulate d and hormonally replaced cycles when GIFT was used in both the egg do nors and their corresponding recipients. Patients: Excess mature oocyt es from 35 women undergoing GIFT after controlled ovarian hyperstimula tion (COH) were transferred into the fallopian tubes of 35 hormonally replaced women. Results: The male partners of all donors and recipient s had normal semen parameters. The two groups did not differ significa ntly in the mean age, duration of infertility, and quality of eggs tra nsferred. There was no statistically significant difference in the mea n number of oocytes transferred per cycle between the donors and the r ecipients. The mean implantation rate per mature oocyte transferred wa s significantly higher in the donors (19.3%) than in the recipients (6 .6%). Conclusion: Our results with GIFT show higher implantation rates in hyperstimulated cycles than in hormonally replaced cycles. These r esults differ from those reported in IVF-ET that suggest an adverse ef fect of COH on implantation rates.