CRINONE vaginal progesterone gel as effective as IM progesterone for luteal phase support in IVF-ET

In their American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) conference wrap-up, Medscape highlighted the article published by them on October 27, 2009, which summarized the results from the largest prospective, randomized clinical study to compare vaginal progesterone to intramuscular progesterone injections (IM progesterone) for luteal support in infertility treatment. The study demonstrated that CRINONE vaginal progesterone gel is equally effective and significantly better tolerated than IM progesterone for luteal phase support in In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET) cycles. According to the Medscape article, quoting Paul W. Zarutskie, MD, an authority on luteal phase support in IVF from the Zarutskie Fertility and Endocrine Institute, “Last year, over 70% of the progesterone used in fertility and Ob/Gyn practices was intramuscular. However, I predict that in 2010 we will see vaginal administration as the preferred route of administration.”

“I feel the time has come to change the paradigm for the administration of progesterone in luteal support and early pregnancy support to vaginal gel,” Dr. Zarutskie told Medscape.

Data from the study were presented by researchers from Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

Lead investigator Elena Yanushpolsky, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts, and Director, Reproductive Surgery, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, told Medscape, “Intramuscular progesterone injections have been the standard form of luteal phase support in IVF for decades. IMP is considered painful and inconvenient and causes irritation of tissues, infections, and occasionally even more serious pulmonary complications, all of which have been reported in the literature. It was highly desirable to find an alternative more comfortable route of progesterone supplementation, but without compromise to pregnancy rates.”