Live birth rates after different endometrial preparation methods in frozen cleavage-stage embryo transfer cycles: a randomized controlled trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the context of endometriosis in this randomized controlled trial publication.

This study aimed to compare the clinical outcomes in different endometrial preparation methods prior to frozen embryo transfer (FET) in women with normal menstrual cycles.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 471 patients were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, women only.

A total of 471 eligible patients were randomly allocated into four groups of endometrial preparation prior to FET: natural cycle with spontaneous ovulation (n = 120), natural cycle with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for ovulation induction (n = 117), hormone replacement cycle (HRC) (n = 113) and HRC with pre-treatment with GnRH-a (n = 121).

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Natural cycle with hCG also received hCG in luteal phase.

The primary outcome was live birth rate.

The secondary outcomes included implantation, biochemical and clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and late miscarriage rates.

Data analysis included t test, ANOVA and χ2.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Abortion, Spontaneous, Birth Rate, Chorionic Gonadotropin, Embryo Implantation, Embryo Transfer, Endometrium and Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Endometrial preparation, Frozen embryo transfer, Hormone replacement cycle, Natural cycle and Pregnancy outcomes.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in 471 patients in people with endometriosis.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2019 (Archives of gynecology and obstetrics), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) compound page, Endometriosis research.