Elevated progesterone levels in the late follicular phase do not predict success of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer

Does subtle progesterone rise on the day of HCG affect pregnancy rate in long agonist ICSI cycles?

“…Shortly after this report Silverberg and colleagues [17], and Mio et al [18] reported similar results. Contemporary to these early studies, several other reports fueled the debate by refuting the finding and denying any effect of PPR on cycle outcome [19][20][21].…”

Progesterone level and progesterone/estradiol ratio on the day of hCG administration: detrimental cutoff levels and new treatment strategy

“…However, despite pituitary down-regulation, several researchers have described a phenomenon reported as premature luteinization (PL) (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). It has been described as a subtle premature increase in serum progesterone (P) levels on the day of hCG administration above a threshold level, which varied among different studies and was usually arbitrarily defined (3)(4)(5)(6)(7).…”

“…It has been described as a subtle premature increase in serum progesterone (P) levels on the day of hCG administration above a threshold level, which varied among different studies and was usually arbitrarily defined (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). It has been suggested that elevated P levels reflect the total amount of P secreted by maturing follicles, and these levels have been found to correlate positively with the number of mature follicles and with E 2 levels on hCG day (6,(8)(9)(10)(11). So, it has been suggested that P/E 2 ratio more accurately reflects PL than a single hormone level.…”

“…The question of whether the presence of these increased serum P levels or P/E 2 ratios on the day of hCG administration have any detrimental effects on embryo implantation is a subject of much debate (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(12)(13)(14). A recent meta-analysis suggested that the increase in P levels does not correlate with cycle outcome in terms of the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) (15).…”

Progesterone rise on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin administration impairs pregnancy outcome in day 3 single-embryo transfer, while has no effect on day 5 single blastocyst transfer

“…There is still controversy surrounding the issue, however, and other studies have failed to find a negative association between premature luteinization and the probability of pregnancy (6)(7)(8)(9). On the other hand, we have recently reported that single blastocyst transfer results in significantly higher live birth rate compared with the transfer of a single cleavage-stage embryo (relative risk: 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-2.11) (10), whereas the association between premature luteinization and pregnancy achievement in relation to the developmental stage of embryo (day 3 or day 5) has not been studied so far.…”