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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1458527
This article is part of the Research Topic Infertility and Endometriosis View all 19 articles

No improvement in pregnancy and perinatal outcomes with combined luteal support in modified natural cycle frozen embryo transfer

Provisionally accepted
Wen Zhang Wen Zhang Sheling Wu Sheling Wu Bingnan Ren Bingnan Ren Ruolin Jia Ruolin Jia Wenjuan Zhang Wenjuan Zhang Wang Bi Jun Wang Bi Jun Xiaofang Du Xiaofang Du Yichun Guan Yichun Guan *
  • The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, zhenghzou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: We investigated whether the addition of a luteal phase support drug benefits pregnancy and perinatal outcomes in modified natural-cycle frozen-thawed embryo transfer (mNC-FET) for women up to the age of 35 years. Methods: We analyzed the clinical data of 3658 mNC-FET cycles of women up to the age of 35 years from the Reproductive Center of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2018 to December 2020 in a retrospective cohort study. The cycles were divided into three groups based on the luteal phase support protocol used. The patients in group A received a combination of progesterone soft capsules and dydrogesterone (882 cycles), those in group B received dydrogesterone only (627 cycles), and those in group C received a combination of progesterone vaginal sustained-release gel and dydrogesterone (2149 cycles). Pregnancy and perinatal outcomes were compared among the three groups. Results: Logistic regression analysis indicated that the three luteal phase support regimens were not associated with the live birth rate [OR(95% CI)B vs A=1.080, p=0.960; OR(95% CI)B vs C=0.252, p=0.291]. There were no significant differences in the newborn weight, premature delivery rate, pregnancy complications rate, and incidence of birth defects among the three groups. Conclusions: In the mNC-FET cycle, patients under the age of 35 who chose dydrogesterone alone as a luteal phase support drug exhibited no difference in the live birth rate and perinatal outcome from patients who combined dydrogesterone with progesterone soft capsules or with progesterone vaginal sustained-release gel. However, the outcome still requires confirmation by large-sample prospective studies.

    Keywords: modified natural-cycle frozen-thawed embryo transfer, Pregnancy Outcome, luteal phase support, perinatal outcome, IVF/ICSI

    Received: 02 Jul 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Wu, Ren, Jia, Zhang, Jun, Du and Guan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yichun Guan, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, zhenghzou, China

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