INFLUENCE OF SERUM PROGESTERONE LEVELS AT THE TIME OF HCG ON THE RELEASE OF OVA DURING HMG CYCLES

A study was designed to monitor release of ova by sonography in hMG-tr eated patients following hCG and to determine if failure to release ov a correlates with critically low or high progesterone levels. This was a retrospective study of 292 consecutive patients treated with hMG. T he requirement for treatment was that hCG be given when at least one f ollicle attained a 17-mm diameter with a serum estradiol level of at l east 200 pg/mL per mature follicle. If the serum progesterone assay wa s greater-than-or-equal-to 1.8 ng/mL, then hCG would be given as long as there was at least one dominant follicle and a serum estradiol leve l > 200 pg/mL. The patients were divided into four groups for study ba sed on the progesterone level at the time of hCG administration. There were no statistically significant differences in the ability to achie ve ova release whether serum progesterone was very low or close to 2 n g/mL when hCG was given. The rise in the progesterone level prior to o vulation has been proposed to enhance egg release. However, the data p resented herein do not support the necessity for a critical level of s erum progesterone at the time of hCG injection in hMG-treated women.