Efficacy of four vaginal progesterones for luteal phase support in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles: A randomized clinical trial

Reprod Med Biol. 2019 Sep 16;19(1):42-49. doi: 10.1002/rmb2.12300. eCollection 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of four vaginal progesterones, Lutinus, Utrogestan, Luteum, and Crinone, as luteal phase support (LPS) in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (Frozen-ET) cycles.

Methods: Patients undergoing autologous Frozen-ET of one cleavage-stage embryo or one blastocyst. Two hundred fifty-nine Frozen-ET cycles were randomized to four groups for LPS: Lutinus, Utrogestan, Luteum, and Crinone. The clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), fetal heartbeat rate (FHR), and miscarriage rate (MR) were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test and Fisher exact test.

Results: Two hundred thirty-five Frozen-ET cycles were analyzed: 63 cycles in the Lutinus group, 60 in the Utrogestan group, 56 in the Luteum group, and 56 in the Crinone group. No significant differences were observed between the four groups in CPR (Lutinus, Utrogestan, Luteum, and Crinone: 34.9%, 33.3%, 37.5%, and 35.7%, respectively; P = .976), FHR (26.9%, 31.6%, 30.3%, and 25.0%, respectively; P = .857), and MR (31.8%, 10.0%, 19.0%, and 30.0%, respectively; P = .306). Multivariate logistic regression analysis also revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the four groups with regard to CPR, FHR, and MR.

Conclusion: There was no clinically significant difference in pregnancy outcomes between the four vaginal progesterone groups for LPS in Frozen-ET cycles.

Keywords: clinical pregnancy; frozen‐thawed embryo transfer; luteal phase support; randomized clinical trial; vaginal progesterone.