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PurposeTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of self‐injections of the prefilled recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin (r‐hCG) in a syringe in assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment for the maturation trigger (MT), as compared to self‐injections of conventional hCG and intranasal administration of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonist (GnRH‐a).MethodsBetween January and April, 2017, 396 patients who underwent oocyte retrieval were recruited. Of these, 396 patients were classified into three groups, according to the types of MT: (1) the urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (u‐hCG) group that consisted of patients who had a self‐injection of u‐hCG (n = 127); (2) the GnRH‐a group that received nasal administration of GnRH‐a (n = 159); and (3) the r‐hCG group that had a self‐injection of r‐hCG (n = 110). Several ART outcomes were evaluated.ResultsThe mature oocyte retrieval rate was not different between the u‐hCG, r‐hCG, and GnRH‐a groups and the fertilization and cleavage rates were similar between the three groups. The clinical pregnancy rates did not significantly differ between the GnRH‐a group and the u‐hCG group; however, it was significantly lower in the GnRH‐a group, compared to the r‐hCG group. No difference was observed in the incidence of moderate or more severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome among the three groups.ConclusionThe self‐injection of the prefilled r‐hCG is a favorable MT for ART patients.

Purpose Can relugolix, a novel oral gonadotropin‐releasing hormone receptor (GnRH) antagonist, function as an alternative ovulation inhibitor to GnRH antagonist injections? Methods This single‐center, cross‐sectional retrospective study compared premature ovulation rates and clinical outcomes in IVF treatment after mild ovarian stimulation with 40 mg of relugolix (relugolix group) or 0.25‐mg injections of ganirelix acetate or cetrorelix acetate (injection group) between March 2019 and January 2020. Of 247 infertile women (256 IVF cycles) aged ≤42 years, 223 women (230 cycles) were evaluated. In the relugolix and injection groups, we compared 104 and 85 cycles after GnRH antagonist use before the LH surge (LH levels <10 mIU/ml) and 22 and 19 cycles during the LH surge (LH levels ≥10 mIU/ml), respectively. Results Before the LH surge, the ovulation rates in the two groups were very low ( p = 0.838), however; during the LH surge, the cycles using relugolix had a high ovulation rate of 40.9% compared with no ovulation in the injection group ( p = 0.002). There were no significant differences in embryo culture findings and pregnancy outcomes between the two groups. Conclusions Although relugolix had a high ovulation suppressive effect, when the LH surge occurred, its effect was insufficient.