Pretreatment and co-administration of oral anti-diabetic agent with clomiphene citrate or rFSH for ovulation induction in clomiphene-citrate-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome.

AIM: The objective of this study was to explore the result of pretreatment and concomitant use of metformin with clomiphene citrate (CC) and rFSH for ovulation induction in clomiphene-citrate-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

This randomized controlled trial was done in the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and the Infertility Care and Research Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 165 infertile patients with CC-resistant PCOS who attended for treatment were the target population for this study. Patients were divided into three groups: groups A and B were given metformin and group C was the control. Along with metformin, group A received CC and group B received rFSH. Group C was treated with only rFSH. Metformin was given 1500 mg daily for 4 weeks. Afterwards CC or rFSH were added for induction of ovulation along with metformin. Six ovulatory cycles were assessed. Treatment was terminated when there was no response with maximum dose of CC and rFSH or after six ovulatory cycles without pregnancy or after achieving pregnancy. A P-value of <0.5 was considered as significant.

RESULTS

Ovulation (89.09%) and pregnancy (54.55%) rates were higher in group B. Ovulation (74.55%) and pregnancy (29.09%) rates were also satisfactory in group C but a dose of rFSH requirement was significantly higher (P = 0.000). In group A, both ovulation and pregnancy rate were much lower than the other two groups (27.27% and 12.73%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of metformin increases the response of ovulation-inducing agents and can be used safely in PCOS.