Tehran University Medical Journal

Background : One of the important problems in fertilization in vitro (IVF) is failure of implantation. This could be the result of estrogen and progesterone effects in endometrial acceptance during ovulation stimulation. Although progesterone has a vital role in primary phase of pregnancy, but the estradiol role in luteal phase is unknown. The aim of this study is assessment of the ratio of estradiol to progesterone in embryo transfer day on Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes.

Methods : This is a cohort study. The subjects were 311 infertile women referred to Urmia Kosar infertility clinic & Urmia reproductive health research center who treated with ICSI method between August-Jan 2011 . Five cc blood was drawn for determine of estradiol and progesterone in transfer day. Transfer occurred after a variable in vitro culture period ranging from 48 to 72 hours after ovulation induction. Chemiluminescent ELICA the level of mention hormones was used to determine the ratio of the progesterone level to the estradiol serum level and was compared based on treatment outcomes.

Results : A total of 311 patients, 115 (37%) were pregnant and happened abortion were 18 (5.8%) . The mean ratio of estradiol to progesterone in transfer day in two groups of miscarriage/ non miscarriage and pregnant/ non pregnant was 32.26±23.86 , 28.17±26.5 and 28.58±2.4 , 36.09±4.39 respectively. There is no significant difference between two groups in regard of estradiol on progesterone ratio (P=0.5, P= 0.2) .

Conclusion: The results of this prospective cohort study show that there is no effect of estradiol to progesterone ratio on day of embryo transfer, successful pregnancy in ICSI cycles and abortion rate following of ICSI .