The İmpact of Gonadotropin Type on Controlled Ovarian Stimulation and İntrauterine İnsemination Cycle Outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) combined with controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) results in higher pregnancy rates. However, there is still no consensus on the optimal COS protocol.

AIMS: In the present study, we aimed to analyse the effects of COS protocols with different gonadotropin types on IUI outcomes.

STUDY SETTING AND

DESIGN

This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at the infertility clinic of a University hospital, including 237 COS + IUI cycles.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Eligible cycles were divided into three groups according to the type of gonadotropin used for COS; cycles with recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (rFSH) (group 1, n = 36), highly purified FSH (HP-FSH) (group 2, n = 178) and highly purified menotropin (HP-hMG) (group 3, n = 23). Clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR) per cycle were compared between groups.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare numerical variables. Dunn test was used for multiple comparisons.

RESULTS

The duration of stimulation and total gonadotropin dose were similar between the three groups (P > 0.05). The CPR was 16.7% in rFSH group, 9.6% in HP-FSH group and 13.0% in HP-hMG group. The LBR was 16.7% in rFSH group, 8.4% in HP-FSH group and 13.0% in HP-hMG group. Both CPR and LBR were comparable in all three groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Ovarian stimulation with rFSH, HP-FSH and HP-hMG show similar COS characteristics. Furthermore, these three gonadotropin protocols for COS + IUI yielded comparable CPR and LBR. These findings suggest that all three gonadotropin types (rFSH, HP-FSH, HP-hMG) are similarly effective in COS + IUI cycles.