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The risk of ectopic pregnancy following GnRH agonist triggering compared with hCG triggering in GnRH antagonist ivf cycles

  • Gynecologic Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of ectopic pregnancy in GnRH agonist triggered IVF cycles with intensive luteal support versus hCG triggered IVF cycles.

Methods

This study was conducted as a retrospective cohort analysis of women who underwent IVF treatment employing GnRH agonist or recombinant hCG (rhCG) triggers during 2-year period. The medical charts of women who achieved pregnancies were reviewed and their demographic characteristics, infertility reasons and IVF data were recorded. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between the triggering medication used to stimulate final oocyte maturation (GnRHa or rhCG) and EP, with adjustment for important confounders: the day of embryo transfer (ETD), the etiology of infertility and estrogen level at the time of triggering.

Results

The number of metaphase II oocytes, fertilized oocytes and good quality embryos were significantly higher in the GnRH agonist triggered group compared with the hCG triggered group (p < 0.001 for all). The clinical pregnancy and implantation rates in the hCG triggered cycles were 38.6 and 31.1 %, respectively and 24.7 and 22 %, respectively in the triptorelin triggered cycles. The ectopic pregnancy rates were 5.3 % in the triptorelin triggered group and 1.4 % in the hCG triggered group. The trigger medication and the day of embryo transfer were found to have a significant effect on the probability of developing ectopic pregnancy (p = 0.028, p = 0.046 respectively). However, the estrogen level was not found to have a significant effect on the probability of developing ectopic pregnancy (p = 0.447).

Conclusions

The reasons for higher ectopic pregnancy rates in GnRH agonist triggered cycles relative to hCG triggered cycles may be the decreased receptivity of the endometrium due to insufficient luteal support and higher implantation potential of embryos in correlation with a higher number of good quality embryos obtained in these cycles.

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Conflict of interest

All the authors state that there is no conflict of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eurofertil IVF Center, Nuhkuyusu Cad., No: 96, 34662, Istanbul, Turkey

    Sadik Sahin, Alev Ozay, Elif Ergin & Hakan Ozornek

  2. IVF Unit, Zeynep Kamil Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Op. Dr. Burhanettin Ustunel Cad., No: 10, 34668, Istanbul, Turkey

    Sadik Sahin & Lale Turkgeldi

  3. Department of Statistics, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Ünalan Mah., D-100 Karayolu, 34700, Istanbul, Turkey

    Esra Kürüm

Authors
  1. Sadik Sahin
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  2. Alev Ozay
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  3. Elif Ergin
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  4. Lale Turkgeldi
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  5. Esra Kürüm
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  6. Hakan Ozornek
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Correspondence to Sadik Sahin.

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Sahin, S., Ozay, A., Ergin, E. et al. The risk of ectopic pregnancy following GnRH agonist triggering compared with hCG triggering in GnRH antagonist ivf cycles. Arch Gynecol Obstet 291, 185–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-014-3399-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-014-3399-x

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