Pregnancies following the use of sequential treatment of metformin and incremental doses of letrozole in clomiphen-resistant women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Clomiphen citrate (CC) is the first line therapy for women with infertility and poly cystic ovary syndrome( PCOS). However, 20-25% of women are resistant to CC and do not ovulate. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of sequential treatment of metformin and incremental doses of letrozole in induction of ovulation in cases of CC-resistant PCOS patients. Materials and Methods: In this prospective before-after study, we enrolled 106 anovulatory PCOS women who failed to ovulate with CC alone from Amir-Almomenin University Hospital in Semnan, Iran. After an initial 6-8 weeks of metformin treatment, they received 2.5 mg letrozole daily on days 3-7 after menes. If they did not ovulate with 2.5 mg letrozole, the doses were increased to 5 to 7.5 mg daily in subsequent cycles. The main outcomes were ovulatory rate, pregnancy rate and cumulative pregnancy rate. Results: 13.33% of patients conceived with metformin alone. Ovulation occurred in 83 out of remaining 91 patients (91.2%). 78.02% of patients responded to lower doses of letrozole. Cumulative pregnancy rate was 60/ 105 (57.14%). Conclusion: We suggest that treatment in CC-resistant PCOS patients should begin at first with lower doses of letrozole and could increase to the higher dose depending on the patient response before considering more aggressive therapeutic alternatives such as gonadotropins.