Pregnancy and live birth rate in idiopathic male infertility treated with Human Menopausal Gonadotropin: A pilot clinical trial

Idiopathic male infertility refers to the condition in which there is no clear cause for the diagnosis of infertility. Human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) containing the follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone is a medication that causes ovarian follicles to grow in women. This medication can also induce spermatogenesis in men. The present study was conducted to investigate and compare the rates of pregnancy and live birth in partners of men with unexplained infertility after the injection of 8 and 12 ampules of HMG.

This clinical trial study was carried out on 22 men with unexplained infertility who referred to the Urology Clinic of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran, during March 2016 and December 2018. The patients were randomly divided into two groups each of which included 11 cases. For one group 8 HMG injections and for the other group 12 HMG injections were administered (two injections per week). Afterward, the results of clinical pregnancy were assessed, and the cases were followed up to live birth after the clinical pregnancy. Data analysis was carried out using the Chi-square test.

In this study, the rate of positive pregnancy was reported as 62.5% in the group with 12 HMG injections in comparison to 37.5% in the group with 8 HMG injections. Although the pregnancy rate was higher in the 12-injection group, statistically there was no significant difference (P=0.7).

According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that for couples with unexplained male infertility, the administration of 8 to 12 HMG injections can increase the chance of pregnancy and live birth. Since this study was the first attempt to evaluate the pregnancy rate after treatment with HMG, it is suggested to perform further studies for the assessment of HMG effect on hormonal profile and chromatin quality.