A Comparison of Oral Dydrogesterone with Vaginal Progesterone for Luteal-Phase Support in In vitro Fertilization: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: The quality of the luteal phase is the most important issue affecting pregnancy outcomes in assisted reproductive technology (ART). Luteal-phase support with the administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist or progesterone improves the likelihood of pregnancy in ART. Due to disagreements regarding the best pharmaceutical form of progesterone for success of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in ART methods, the present study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of oral dydrogesterone with vaginal progesterone on the outcome of pregnancy in IVF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This unblinded randomized clinical trial was conducted at the Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Centre in Isfahan, Iran, between june 2021 and September 2021. In total, 126 couples were included in the study. All patients underwent controlled ovarian stimulation and IVF. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (n = 63 per group). After embryo transfer, group I was treated with Cyclogest 400 mg twice daily, and group II was treated with oral Duphaston 10 mg twice daily. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of the mean endometrial thickness (P = 0.613), the mean number of transferred embryos (P = 0.100), and the number of implanted embryos (P = 0.338). Additionally, no statistically significant differences in the pregnancy rate were detected between the two groups (P = 0.875). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence from this study indicates that Duphaston is as effective as Cyclogest for luteal-phase support.