Successful Pregnancy after Improving Insulin Resistance with the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Analogue in a Woman with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2016;81(5):477-80. doi: 10.1159/000446951. Epub 2016 Jun 15.

Abstract

The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common cause of anovulatory infertility. It is diagnosed by the presence of hyperandrogenemia, insulin resistance (IR), obesity and other endocrine or metabolic disorders. Exenatide (EX) is a kind of glucagon-like peptide, which is a new option for patients with diabetes mellitus. We present a patient with infertility for PCOS. She was overweight and her medical history included IR, right-sided ovarian mucinous cystadenomas, and left-sided teratoma. Although she had been treated with ovarian surgery, clomiphene citrate and gonadotropins, weight loss and metformin, which have been effective for dominant follicle development, she still failed to conceive. Then EX was initiated to intervene for 2 months. EX treatment was successful to improve IR; after that the infertile woman with PCOS became pregnant. EX improves IR and reproduction capacity in PCOS patients, reducing insulin level and ameliorating endocrine disorders, thereby improving ovarian function, promoting follicle development, and providing new avenues for the treatment of infertility with PCOS.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Exenatide
  • Female
  • Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 / analogs & derivatives*
  • Humans
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Infertility, Female / drug therapy*
  • Infertility, Female / etiology
  • Infertility, Female / physiopathology
  • Infertility, Female / therapy
  • Insulin Resistance / physiology*
  • Peptides / therapeutic use*
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome / complications
  • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome / physiopathology*
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Outcome
  • Reproductive Techniques, Assisted
  • Venoms / therapeutic use*

Substances

  • Hypoglycemic Agents
  • Peptides
  • Venoms
  • Glucagon-Like Peptide 1
  • Exenatide