Estradiol Valerate Pretreatment in Short Protocol GnRH-Agonist Cycles versus Combined Pretreatment with Oral Contraceptive Pills in Long Protocol GnRH-Agonist Cycles: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Table 2

In vitro fertilisation programme characteristics of the investigated groups.

Variable	Long agonist protocol with OC pretreatment	Short agonist protocol with vaginal estradiol pretreatment	value
Number of cycles	157	158	—
Number of transfers	137	134	—
Duration of stimulation, days (SD)	9.8	8.1	0.03
hMG dose (IU)	1861.5	1755	0.04
Number of oocytes retrieved (SD)	7.8 (4.3)	6.9 (4.3)	0.05
Fertilisation rate (%)	68.5	57.9	0.003
Number of embryos transferred	1.8	1.4	<0.001
Pregnancy rate (per ET, %)	80 (58.4)	54 (40.3)	0.003
Implantation rate (%)	37.8	28	0.03
Multiple pregnancy rate (%)	23 (35.4)	9 (21.4)	0.12
Ectopic pregnancy (%)	0	0	—
OHSS (%)	0	0	—
Spontaneous abortion rate (%)	12 (15)	11 (20.4)	0.81