The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
Introduction: Poor ovarian responders are the most challenging patients in reproductive medicine and no successful treatment has been proposed. Androgens are thought to play an important role during early folliculogenesis and diminished levels are associated with decreased ovarian sensitivity to fol...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Medical Journal
2020-09-01
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| Series: | European Medical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://www.emjreviews.com/reproductive-health/article/the-benefits-of-testosterone-therapy-in-poor-ovarian-responders-undergoing-in-vitro-fertilisation-ivf/ |
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| author | Petya Andreeva Ivelina Oprova Luboslava Valkova Petya Chaveeva Ivanka Dimova Atanas Shterev |
| author_facet | Petya Andreeva Ivelina Oprova Luboslava Valkova Petya Chaveeva Ivanka Dimova Atanas Shterev |
| author_sort | Petya Andreeva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Poor ovarian responders are the most challenging patients in reproductive medicine and no successful treatment has been proposed. Androgens are thought to play an important role during early folliculogenesis and diminished levels are associated with decreased ovarian sensitivity to follicle-stimulating hormone. This study aimed to determine whether pretreatment with testosterone improves the results in poor responders undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Materials and methods: This observational pilot study enrolled 33 poor responders undergoing IVF. Eleven patients were pretreated with 250 mg intramuscular testosterone and compared to a control group of 22 patients. The participants were tested for free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, sex hormone binding globulin, and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH).
Results: The two groups had similar baseline characteristics. Significant improvement was reached in the hormones free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and sex hormone binding globulin in the testosterone-pretreatment group. No difference was detected in antral follicle count (5.06 versus 4.24); AMH (0.51 versus 0.53), mature oocytes (2.2 versus 2.32), and the number of embryos (1.2 versus 1.33) between the study and control groups, respectively. There was a slow improvement in fertilisation rate but without any significance (62.97% versus 57.61%). However, the cancellation rate of the ovarian stimulation was much greater in the control group (18.18%) in comparison with the study group (0.0%). Pregnancy rate (PR) in the testosterone group was higher than controls (PR per cycle: 27.3% versus 4.6; p=0.09).
Conclusion: Based on the limited number of patients studied, pretreatment with testosterone seems to improve PR and cancellation rate in poor responders but failed to affect antral follicle count, AMH, and the number of mature oocytes and embryos. Given these results, further research would provide more certainty. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T18:07:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-447f34e5faeb49dfad5aa4423ce93811 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2397-6764 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T18:07:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | European Medical Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Medical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-447f34e5faeb49dfad5aa4423ce938112022-12-21T19:30:33ZengEuropean Medical JournalEuropean Medical Journal2397-67642020-09-0153717910.33590/emj/20-00095The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)Petya Andreeva0Ivelina Oprova1Luboslava Valkova2Petya Chaveeva3Ivanka Dimova4Atanas Shterev5Shterev Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria; South-West University, Blagoevgrad, BulgariaShterev Hospital, Sofia, BulgariaShterev Hospital, Sofia, BulgariaShterev Hospital, Sofia, BulgariaMedical University, Sofia, BulgariaShterev Hospital, Sofia, BulgariaIntroduction: Poor ovarian responders are the most challenging patients in reproductive medicine and no successful treatment has been proposed. Androgens are thought to play an important role during early folliculogenesis and diminished levels are associated with decreased ovarian sensitivity to follicle-stimulating hormone. This study aimed to determine whether pretreatment with testosterone improves the results in poor responders undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Materials and methods: This observational pilot study enrolled 33 poor responders undergoing IVF. Eleven patients were pretreated with 250 mg intramuscular testosterone and compared to a control group of 22 patients. The participants were tested for free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, sex hormone binding globulin, and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH). Results: The two groups had similar baseline characteristics. Significant improvement was reached in the hormones free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and sex hormone binding globulin in the testosterone-pretreatment group. No difference was detected in antral follicle count (5.06 versus 4.24); AMH (0.51 versus 0.53), mature oocytes (2.2 versus 2.32), and the number of embryos (1.2 versus 1.33) between the study and control groups, respectively. There was a slow improvement in fertilisation rate but without any significance (62.97% versus 57.61%). However, the cancellation rate of the ovarian stimulation was much greater in the control group (18.18%) in comparison with the study group (0.0%). Pregnancy rate (PR) in the testosterone group was higher than controls (PR per cycle: 27.3% versus 4.6; p=0.09). Conclusion: Based on the limited number of patients studied, pretreatment with testosterone seems to improve PR and cancellation rate in poor responders but failed to affect antral follicle count, AMH, and the number of mature oocytes and embryos. Given these results, further research would provide more certainty.https://www.emjreviews.com/reproductive-health/article/the-benefits-of-testosterone-therapy-in-poor-ovarian-responders-undergoing-in-vitro-fertilisation-ivf/cycle cancellationin vitro fertilisation (ivf)poor ovarian responders (por)pregnancy rate (pr)testosterone |
| spellingShingle | Petya Andreeva Ivelina Oprova Luboslava Valkova Petya Chaveeva Ivanka Dimova Atanas Shterev The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) European Medical Journal cycle cancellation in vitro fertilisation (ivf) poor ovarian responders (por) pregnancy rate (pr) testosterone |
| title | The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) |
| title_full | The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) |
| title_fullStr | The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) |
| title_short | The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy in Poor Ovarian Responders Undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) |
| title_sort | benefits of testosterone therapy in poor ovarian responders undergoing in vitro fertilisation ivf |
| topic | cycle cancellation in vitro fertilisation (ivf) poor ovarian responders (por) pregnancy rate (pr) testosterone |
| url | https://www.emjreviews.com/reproductive-health/article/the-benefits-of-testosterone-therapy-in-poor-ovarian-responders-undergoing-in-vitro-fertilisation-ivf/ |
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