TY - JOUR
T1 - Dehydroepiandrosterone administration before IVF in poor responders
T2 - A prospective cohort study
AU - Vlahos, Nikos
AU - Papalouka, Maria
AU - Triantafyllidou, Olga
AU - Vlachos, Athanasios
AU - Vakas, Panagiotis
AU - Grimbizis, Gregory
AU - Creatsas, George
AU - Zikopoulos, Konstantinos
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr Bulent Urman, Professor and Head Obstetrics and Gynecology and Assisted Reproduction Unit, American Hospital, Istanbul Turkey, for the critical review of the manuscript and his suggestions. This research was supported by Research Network for the evaluation of DHEA administration in poor responders and the 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ‘Aretaieion’ Hospital, University of Athens, Greece.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - The use of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may improve ovarian stimulation outcomes in women of advanced reproductive age and could reduce embryo aneuploidy. In this prospective study, 48 women diagnosed with poor ovarian response received DHEA supplementation for at least 12 weeks. These women were compared with a group of poor responders (n = 113) who did not receive supplementation. During the study period, patients taking day 2 FSH and oestradiol were measured monthly before and after treatment. Stimulation characteristics, stimulation outcome and clinical outcome (clinical pregnancy and live birth rates) were reported. Evaluation of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) was carried out before initiation of treatment and immediately before the subsequent stimulation. Supplementation with DHEA for at least 12 weeks resulted in a modest, but statistically significant, increase in AMH levels and decrease in baseline FSH (P < 0.001 and P = 0.007, respectively). Administration of DHEA had no effect on any of the stimulation parameters nor was there any difference in clinical pregnancy rates and live birth rates between the two groups. Supplementation with DHEA significantly affects women with poor prognosis undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF. Patients should be counselled about the uncertain effectiveness, potential side-effects and cost of this treatment.
AB - The use of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may improve ovarian stimulation outcomes in women of advanced reproductive age and could reduce embryo aneuploidy. In this prospective study, 48 women diagnosed with poor ovarian response received DHEA supplementation for at least 12 weeks. These women were compared with a group of poor responders (n = 113) who did not receive supplementation. During the study period, patients taking day 2 FSH and oestradiol were measured monthly before and after treatment. Stimulation characteristics, stimulation outcome and clinical outcome (clinical pregnancy and live birth rates) were reported. Evaluation of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) was carried out before initiation of treatment and immediately before the subsequent stimulation. Supplementation with DHEA for at least 12 weeks resulted in a modest, but statistically significant, increase in AMH levels and decrease in baseline FSH (P < 0.001 and P = 0.007, respectively). Administration of DHEA had no effect on any of the stimulation parameters nor was there any difference in clinical pregnancy rates and live birth rates between the two groups. Supplementation with DHEA significantly affects women with poor prognosis undergoing ovarian stimulation for IVF. Patients should be counselled about the uncertain effectiveness, potential side-effects and cost of this treatment.
KW - AMH
KW - DHEA
KW - IVF
KW - ovarian response
KW - ovarian stimulation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2014.10.005
DO - 10.1016/j.rbmo.2014.10.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 25498594
AN - SCOPUS:84922596431
SN - 1472-6483
VL - 30
SP - 191
EP - 196
JO - Reproductive biomedicine online
JF - Reproductive biomedicine online
IS - 2
ER -