Influence of Therapy of Strengthening Qi and Blood,and Tonifying Liver and Kidney on Sexual Hormone Levels and Clinical Outcome in In-vitro Fertilization Patients

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of therapy of strengthening Qi and blood,and tonifying liver and kidney on sexual hormone levels and clinical outcome in in-vitro fertilization patients. METHODS: Two hundred and seven patients receiving in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer(IVF-ET) were randomized into herbal medicine group(N = 101) and control group(N = 106).The herbal medicine group was treated with gonadotrophinreleasing hormone agonist(GnRH-a) for down-regulation and ovarian stimulation and with herbal medicine of Cu Huangti Granules for one week,and then with gonadotrophin(Gn) combined with Jinghou Zengzhi Granules till human chorionic gonadotrophin(HCG) days,finally with Cu Huangti Granules for one more week after ovulation.The control group received the same IVF-ET regimen but without medication of herbal medicine.A retrospective analysis was carried out for serum sexual hormones levels and clinical outcome during HCG days in the two groups. RESULTS: The differences of the constituent ratio of infertility factors,mean age,infertility time,ovulation frequency,fertility route,fertility rate,averaged transferred embryos,and progesterone dosage were insignificant in the two groups(P 0.05).In herbal medicine group,the days for usage of Gn were shorter and Gn dosage was less than those in the control group.Serum luteinizing hormone(LH) level during HCG days was 1.2 ± 0.47 U/L in herbal medicine and 1.06 ± 0.53 U/L in the control group(P = 0.048).Implantation rate and bigeminal rate were higher in herbal medicine group than those in the control group(P 0.05),but the differences of pregnancy rate and abortion rate were insignificant in the two groups(P 0.05). CONCLUSION: Herbal medicine with the actions of strengthening Qi and blood,and tonifying liver and kidney can increase serum LH level during HCG days,reduce Gn dosage and medication time,and increase embryo implantation rate for infertility patients after treatment with GnRH-a.