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Elevated serum estradiol levels in artificial autologous frozen embryo transfer cycles negatively impact ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between serum estradiol (E2) levels during artificial autologous frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles and ongoing pregnancy/live birth rates (OP/LB).

Methods

A historical cohort study was conducted in an academic setting in order to correlate peak and average estradiol levels with ongoing pregnancy/live birth rates for all autologous artificial frozen embryo transfer cycles performed from 1/2011 to 12/2014.

Results

Average and peak E2 levels from 110 autologous artificial FET cycles from 95 patients were analyzed. Average E2 levels were significantly lower in cycles resulting in OP/LB compared to those that did not (234.1 ± 16.6 pg/ml vs. 315 ± 24.8 pg/ml, respectively, p = 0.04). Although peak E2 levels were not significantly different between cycles resulting in OP/LB compared with those that did not (366.9 ± 27.7 pg/ml vs. 459.1 ± 32.3 pg/ml, respectively, p = 0.19), correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant (p = 0.02) downward trend in OP/LB rates with increasing peak E2 levels.

Conclusions

This study suggests that elevated E2 levels in artificial autologous FET cycles are associated with lower OP/LB rates. Estradiol levels should be monitored during artificial FET cycles.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Xiaonan (Nan) Xue, Director, Biostatistics Shared Resource, at Albert Einstein Cancer Center, for her statistical guidance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, 1300 Morris Park Ave Block 634, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

    Rani Fritz, Sangita Jindal, Heather Feil & Erkan Buyuk

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  1. Rani Fritz
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  2. Sangita Jindal
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  3. Heather Feil
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  4. Erkan Buyuk
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Correspondence to Erkan Buyuk.

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Fritz, R., Jindal, S., Feil, H. et al. Elevated serum estradiol levels in artificial autologous frozen embryo transfer cycles negatively impact ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 1633–1638 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-1016-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-1016-1

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