Comparison of The Effectiveness of Clomiphene Citrate versus Letrozole in Mild IVF in Poor Prognosis Subfertile Women with Failed IVF Cycles

Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of clomiphene citrate (CC) vs. letrozole (L) plus human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) in gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist protocol in poor prognosis women with previous failed ovarian stimulation undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This retrospective cohort study included cycles with CCand L plus hMG/GnRH antagonist protocols of 32 poor responders who had failed tohave ideal follicles to be retrieved during oocyte pick-up (OPU) or embryo transfer(ET) at least for 2 previous in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles with microdose flareprotocol or GnRH antagonist protocol from January 2006 to December 2009. Mainoutcome measures were implantation, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates per cycle.Duration of stimulation, mean gonadotropin dose used, endometrial thickness,number of mature follicles, serum estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) levels on theday of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration, number of retrievedoocytes and fertilization rates were also evaluated. A total number of 42 cycles of 32 severe poor responders were evaluated. Total gonadotropin consumption was significantly lower (1491 ± 873 vs. 2808 ± 1581 IU, P=0.005) and mean E2 level on the day of hCG injection were significantly higher in CC group than L group (443.3 ± 255.2 vs. 255.4 ± 285.2 pg/mL, P=0.03). ET, overall pregnancy and live birth rates per cycle were significantly higher in CC than L protocol 27.2 vs. 15%, 13.6 vs. 0% and 4.5 vs. 0%, respectively, P<0.05). Severe poor responders who had previously failed to respond to microdoseor GnRH antagonist protocols may benefit from CC plus hMG/GnRH antagonist protocoldespite high cancellation rate.