Elevated serum progesterone levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin administration in in vitro fertilization cycles do not adversely affect embryo quality

Objective: To assess the effect of an elevated serum P level on the day of hCG administration in an IVF cycle on resulting embryos by evaluating their performance at subsequent frozen ET. Design: A retrospective study. Participants: Ninety-six consecutive patients undergoing frozen ET cycles were studied in a tertiary care center. Main Outcome Measures: Serum obtained on the day of hCG administration in an IVF cycle was assayed for E₂ and P by RIA. The main outcome measured was the development of a clinical pregnancy in a subsequent frozen ET cycle. Results: Using a previously described breakpoint in serum P concentration of 0.9 ng/mL (2.86 nmol/L), 8 of 69 (11.6%) frozen ETs in which embryos from low P level IVF cycles were transferred and 7 of 27 (25.9%) frozen ETs of embryos from elevated P level IVF cycles were transferred resulted in the development of clinical pregnancies. Although this does not clearly demonstrate superiority of embryos obtained from elevated P cycles, employing a power calculation, the probability that the pregnancy rate in the elevated serum P group is at least equal to the observed rate in the low P group is 92.8%. Conclusion: These data suggest that an elevated serum P level on the day of hCG administration does not adversely affect the quality of oocytes or resulting embryos.