Premature Progesterone Rise Positively Correlates with Clinical Pregnancy Rate in In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) Patients with good Ovarian Response.

Infertility affects millions of couples worldwide resulting in distress and depression. In the past several decades, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have been developed with high efficiency and success rate. The possible effects of gonadotropin administration on follicular metabolism have been discussed but the outcomes remain controversial. The aim of this study was to identify whether serum progesterone on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration and the ratio of serum progesterone and the number of oocyte retrieved (P/O) had a predictive role for the outcomes of IVF/ICSI. Eight hundred and twenty-five patients were enrolled between January 2012 and December 2012. A positive correlation between progesterone and IVF/ICSI outcomes were found in patients with good ovarian response using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We found that when progesterone level was higher than 1.04 ng/ml in good ovarian responses, the implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate were both reduced compared to the rates in patients exhibiting lower progesterone level (progesterone≤1.04 ng/ml). Moreover, the rise of serum progesterone on the day of hCG was negatively correlated with luteinizing hormone (LH) level. This study used 1.04 ng/ml as a definition of progesterone elevation and an adverse effect of serum progesterone rise was observed on clinical pregnancy rate.