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pregnancy outcomeEndometriosis and adenomyosis can affect pregnancy outcomes for women using assisted reproductive technology (ART). Treatment protocols are in place to maximize pregnancy potential, but researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ruikin Hospital in Shanghai wanted to learn if long-term pre-treatment would affect pregnancy outcome. The results of the study were published in the journal Gynecology Endocrinology.

Researchers included 339 women with adenomyosis in the study. One-hundred ninety-four of the women received a combination treatment of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone). The remaining 145 women were treated with HRT alone.

Results: With GnRH and HRT combination treatment, women achieved pregnancy more often than if HRT was used alone when frozen embryo transfer was used. The difference in pregnancy outcome was significant with an average success rate of 44% in the GnRH with HRT group and 21% in the HRT-only group.

Sources:

  1. Niu Z, Chen Q, Sun Y, Feng Y. Long-term pituitary downregulation before frozen embryo transfer could improve pregnancy outcomes in women with adenomyosis. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2013 Sep 5.
  2. PubMed