Corifollitropin-a compared to daily r-FSH in for patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection: Clinical trial study

Background: The current treatment regimen for ovarian stimulation in Intracytoplasmicsperm injection (ICSI) patients is daily injections of Gonadotropins. Recombinant DNAtechnologies have produced a new recombinant molecule that is a long-acting FollicleStimulating Hormone (FSH), named corifollitropin alfa. A single injection of long-actingFSH can replace seven daily FSH injections during the first week of controlled ovarianstimulation (COS) and can make assisted reproduction more patients-friendly. There islimited data with different results in this area.Objective: To compare the effectiveness of long-acting FSH vs. daily r-FSH in terms ofpregnancy and safety outcomes in women undergoing ICSI cycles.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 109 women who were the candidatesfor ICSI at azzahra hospital were divided in two groups. The first group received150 units of daily Gonal-f from second or third day of menstruation. The secondgroup received a 150IU corifollitropin alfa on the second or third day of mensuration,and the treatment continued from day eighth of stimulation with Gonal-f basedon the ultrasound finding. Both the groups received GnRH antagonist from fifthday of stimulation. Two groups were compared in terms of number of dominantfollicles, number of oocytes, stimulation duration, total number of embryos, numberof transferred embryos, and success rate of pregnancy.Results: No significant difference was found between the two groups in terms ofstimulation duration, number of follicles, number of oocytes, total number of embryos,and number of transferred embryos. Moreover, pregnancy outcomes includingchemical pregnancy rate (positive pregnancy test), clinical pregnancy rate (detectionof fetal heart), the rate of ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, multiple-pregnancy,ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage didn’t have a significant difference between thetwo groups.Conclusion: As corifollitropin alfa was as effective as r-FSH, it could be used as analternative to ovulation stimulation method in patients undergoing ICSI.