The Effect of Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma Treatment on In Vitro Fertilization/Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection and Its Impact on the Endometrium and Clinical Pregnancy Rate

Background Endometrial thickness has been identified as a prognostic factor for improving the pregnancy rate for patients with female infertility. Study question Does platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment affect the endometrial thickness and pregnancy rate after an in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycle? Aim This study aims to evaluate the effects of autologous PRP treatment on IVF/ICSI, endometrium, and clinical pregnancy rate. Materials, setting, and methods This is a prospective, non-blind, randomized controlled study. The ethical committee of the Jeddah IVF Center approved the study, and informed written consent was obtained from all patients. We recruited patients who consulted at the Jeddah IVF Center from September 2020 to May 2021. Results A total of 70 patients undergoing IVF/ICSI and embryo transfer (ET) were randomly divided by simple randomization into two groups: those who received PRP treatment after oocyte pickup (OPU) (group A) and those who did not receive PRP treatment (control, group B). The endometrial thickness was measured after OPU and before ET. The mean ages of patients in groups A and B were 35.91 ± 4.09 (range: 24-43) and 34.63 ± 4.26 (range: 25-43), respectively, which were not statistically significant (P < 0.223). In the PRP cases, the types of infertility were primary in 16 (45.7%) and secondary in 19 (54.3%), and the causes of infertility were male factors in 24 (68.6%), unexplained in five (14.3%), ovulatory factor in two (5.6%), endometriosis in two (5.6%), tubal factor in one (2.9%), and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in one (2.9%). In the control group, the types of infertility were primary in 14 (40%) and secondary in 21 (60%), and the causes of infertility were male factors in 21 (60%), unexplained in three (8.6%), ovulatory factor in eight (22.9%), endometriosis in one (2.8), and PGD in two (5.6%). In our study, we found that the mean endometrial thicknesses after OPU were 0.594 ± 0.089 (range: 0.4-0.7) and 0.589 ± 0.090 (range: 0.6-0.9) in the treatment and control groups, respectively (odds ratio (OR): 0.005; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.376-0.047; P < 0.791). Before ET, the mean endometrial thicknesses were 0.86 ± 0.090 (range: 0.7-0.9) and 0.7464 ± 0.06 (range: 0.7-1) in groups A and B, respectively, (OR: 0.114; 95% CI: 0.763-0.151; P < 0.001). Of the 35 patients in each group, 12 (34.3%) and five (14.3%) had confirmed pregnancies in groups A and B, respectively (OR: 0.319; 95% CI: 0.099-1.036; P < 0.05), which is statistically significant. Conclusion Autologous PRP treatment in IVF/ICSI improves the endometrial thickness and clinical pregnancy rate.