Skip Navigation



Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on February 14, 2006
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/del020
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/6/1432    most recent
del020v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sohrabvand, F.
Right arrow Articles by Bagheri, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sohrabvand, F.
Right arrow Articles by Bagheri, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received July 27, 2005
Revised December 3, 2005
Accepted January 13, 2006

Article

Efficacy of combined metformin-letrozole in comparison with metformin-clomiphene citrate in clomiphene-resistant infertile women with polycystic ovarian disease

F. Sohrabvand 1 *, Sh. Ansari 1, and M. Bagheri 1

1 Department of Infertility & IVF, Vali-e-Asr Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
F. Sohrabvand, E-mail: fsohrabvand{at}yahoo.com


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adding metformin to clomiphene citrate in clomiphene-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients increases ovulatory response. However, because of anti-estrogenic effects of clomiphene it may be associated with lower pregnancy rate, offsetting the ovulation rate benefit. Letrozole is an aromatase inhibitor which induces ovulation without anti-estrogenic effects. METHODS: Infertile women with PCOS were randomly divided into metformin-letrozole (29 patients) and metformin-clomiphene groups (30 patients). After an initial 6-8 weeks of metformin, they received either letrozole (2.5 mg) or clomiphene (100 mg) from day 3-7 of their menstrual cycle. Estradiol (E2) levels, number of follicles, pregnancy rates and endometrial thickness were measured on the day of HCG administration. RESULTS: Mean total E2 and E2 per mature follicle were significantly higher in clomiphene group without a difference in mean number of mature follicles >18 mm and ovulation rate. Endometrial thickness was significantly higher in letrozole group. The pregnancy rate in letrozole group (10 patients, 34.50%) as compared with clomiphene group (5 patients, 16.67%) did not show significant difference, whereas full-term pregnancies were higher in letrozole group [10 patients (34.50%) versus 3 patients (10%)]. CONCLUSION: In clomiphene-resistant PCOS patients, the combination of letrozole and metformin leads to higher full-term pregnancies.

Keywords: clomiphene citrate/letrozole/metformin/PCOS/pregnancy rate.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.