Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) role in enhancement and maintenance of implantation (DREAM): randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial—study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is an important precursor of androgen and has been studied and researched extensively for improving the various outcome measures of ovarian stimulation in women with advanced age or poor ovarian response. Androgens also play an important role in the enhancement of endometrial and decidual function by regulating both the transcriptome and secretome of the endometrial stromal cells and have a positive effect on various factors like insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1, homeobox genes (HOXA10, HOXA11), secreted phosphoprotein 1, prolactin which are necessary for implantation. It is well-known that the circulating ‘precursor pool’ of DHEA declines with age more so in poor ovarian reserve patients and exogenous supplementation may be beneficial in such cases. This double-blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) aims to test the hypothesis whether transient targeted supplementation of DHEA as an adjuvant to progesterone in frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles, for women with low serum testosterone, helps in improving live birth rate. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is planned as a double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomised trial and the sample size, calculated for the primary outcome measure—live birth rate, is 140. All participants will be having a flexible antagonist protocol for controlled ovarian stimulation and an elective freeze-all policy for the embryos as per the hospital protocol after written informed consent. For FET, the endometrium will be prepared by hormone replacement treatment protocol. During the FET cycle, the intervention group will be receiving DHEA 25 mg two times a day for 15 days from the day of starting progesterone supplementation and the control group will be receiving a placebo. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The approval of the study was granted by the Clinical Trials Registry—India and the Institutional Ethical Committee of CRAFT Hospital and Research Center. All participants will provide written informed consent before being randomised into allocated treatment groups. The results will be disseminated to doctors and patients through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, social media and patient information booklets. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: CTRI/2020/06/025918; ECR/1044/Inst/KL/2018.