Pituitary down-regulation before IVF for women with endometriosis

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A single centre open-label randomised controlled trial of long term pituitary down-regulation before in vitro fertilisation for women with endometriosis: a pilot study

• IRAS ID

  107883

• Contact name

  Tim Child

• Eudract number

  2012-004954-27

• ISRCTN Number

  N/A

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  N/A

• Research summary

  Endometriosis is a hormone-dependent disease of women, in which endometrial tissue (the cells which line the uterus or womb) are found outside the uterus (womb). Some women with endometriosis may be infertile. However, treatments for infertility such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) or IVF with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) appear to be less successful, i.e. the pregnancy rates are lower, for women with endometriosis than for women who may be infertile for other reasons. Since endometriosis is hormone-dependent, it has been suggested that supressing the activity of hormones produced by the ovaries (which affect endometrial growth) may inactivate endometriosis and so increase the chances of pregnancy. Recently it has been proposed that taking the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) for 6 to 8 weeks before IVF or IVF-ICSI treatment could be used for this purpose. For our study, which is a randomised controlled trial, women with endometriosis meeting the study criteria planning to undergo IVF or IVF-ICSI at the Oxford Fertility Unit will be recruited. Study participants will be randomised into 2 arms: experimental group and control group. The experimental group will be instructed to complete an 8 week course of OCP before beginning standard IVF treatment. The control group do not take any study medication before beginning standard IVF treatment. The IVF or IVF-ICSI treatment for both groups is not altered by participation in the study. The aim of the study will be to determine if pre-treatment with OCP improves IVF or IVF-ICSI success rates, such as live birth and pregnancy rates, in patients who suffer from endometriosis. The study is funded by the Oxford Fertility Unit.

• REC name

  South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  12/SC/0645

• Date of REC Opinion

  7 Dec 2012

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion