Dual trigger or hCG alone: A retrospective analysis on patients with diminished ovarian reserve under in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) treatment

Objective

With remarkable deficiency in both oocyte stock and competence, the prognosis of IVF-ET in diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) is obstinately poor, underscoring warranted optimization to current procedures. We compared the efficacy of dual-trigger (hCG plus GnRH-a) and hCG alone on the outcomes for DOR patients.

Study design

A total of 381 couples and 857 controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) cycles, and 222 couples and 366 frozen embryo transfer (FET) ones were included. The intermediate outcomes during oocyte retrieval and in vitro culture were compared based on COS dataset, while outcomes after embryo transfer analyzed based on FET dataset. The marginal effect of all study factors and covariates were evaluated with a cluster-weighted GEE model.

Results and conclusion

Neither the intermediate nor implantation outcomes were improved by dual-trigger. The OR values were 1.08 (95 % CI: 0.41–2.78) for retrieval cancellation, 1.33 (95 % CI: 0.89–2.00) for oocyte harvest, 1.04(95 %CI: 0.94–1.15) for viable embryo and 1.03(95 %CI: 0.88–1.19) for top-quality embryo. Similarly, the ORs were 0.90 (95 %CI: 0.62–1.30) for implantation and 0.97 (95 %CI: 0.56–1.69) for clinical pregnancy. This equivalence remained unchanged after adjusting for the covariates such as age, BMI, controlled ovarian stimulation protocols, etc. Thus, dual-trigger cannot provide significant advantage over hCG in related to immediate or clinical outcomes of IVF-ET treatments in DOR patients.