Live Birth Rates in Poor Responders’ Group after Previous Treatment with Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma and Low Dose Ovarian Stimulation Compared with Poor Responders Used Only Low Dose Ovarian Stimulation Before in Vitro Fertilization

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This prospective pilot study determined the efficacy of previous transvaginal intraovarian injection with autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in poor ovarian responders (PORs) fulfilling the Bologna criteria before in vitro fertilisation (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with low dose ovarian stimulation. Current knowledge of efficient treatment for PORs is limited and often contradictory; also, LBRs of IVF remains disappointingly low.

AIM: We assessed the live birth rates (LBRs) in PORs after previous ovarian treatment with PRP.

METHODS: Overall, 40 patients undergoing IVF/ICSI between June 2017 ending December 2018 were included. A transvaginal intraovarian injection of PRP was performed on 20 patients. Both compered groups were balanced for all basic characteristics, and multivariate analysis was performed to adjust for all known confounders.

RESULTS: Between the groups, a statistical significance in clinical pregnancies and LBR was not found. Clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were 33.33 ± 44.99 and 40.00 ± 50.71 in the PRP group and 10.71 ± 28.95 and 14.29 ± 36.31 in control group retrospectively. However, there is a trend towards higher implantation rates and LBRs in patients with previous treatment with PRP. Anyhow, the number of patients used in the research is insufficient to make a concrete conclusion, and more studies are needed in the future to confirm these results entirely.

CONCLUSION: Even though the treatment of POR responders remains as a therapeutical challenge, the usage of intraovarian injection of autologous PRP in PORs before the IVF performance brings a glimpse of new hope in increasing the success of IVF defined by clinical pregnancy and LBRs.