IVF Now Offered Without Progesterone Shots

Women trying to have a baby through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) no longer have to endure six weeks of daily needle-sticks to get the hormone progesterone.

As part of a drug study, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) program at Baylor College of Medicine is offering its IVF patients a form of progesterone that can be applied like a contraceptive foam.

"Traditionally, women undergoing IVF procedures have had to inject progesterone into their hips every day from the time the embryo has been transferred until the eighth week of pregnancy," says Dr. Sandra Carson, director of Baylor ART and a member of the obstetrics and gynecology staffs at Ben Taub General Hospital, The Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.

Large doses of progesterone are needed to simulate and support the normal cycle of ovulation during the first trimester of a pregnancy achieved by IVF.

Natural progesterone marketed as Crinone® can be applied through the vagina, where the hormone is released directly to the lining of the uterus.

"Preliminary studies suggest that this drug simulates ovulatory cycles that are just as natural as those induced by injections of progesterone into the hip," Dr. Carson says. "This study should confirm that our patients who choose to use Crinone® maintain the same high pregnancy rates as our other IVF patients."

The new treatment targets the drug directly where it is needed, maintaining lower blood levels and minimizing side effects from high progesterone, says Dr. Carson, a Baylor associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

- From Baylor College of Medicine

---

Courtesy of Texas Medical Center News

---

---

©2006 Texas Medical Center

---

E-Mail: tmc-info@tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/health_briefs/10_15_97-ivf.html