Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Comparison of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay vs radioimmunoassay for measuring serum progesterone at low levels
Reports have suggested a correlation between low serum progesterone (P) levels prior to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration and increased pregnancy rates .in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients. We have published two opposite conclusions, dependent upon the methodology used. Pregnancy rates were higher when P by radioimmunoassay (RIA) was <1 ng/mL, but no in:rease in pregnancy rates were found when P was measured by the same company’s non-isotopic assay. To test if the lack of correlation was attributable to the P method, sera from IVF patients were assayed by two methods, RIA and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). There was 81.8% agreement between methods. Further studies are needed to determine the importance of low P; however, if non-isotopic methods are used, the IVF center should carefully determine the accuracy of their assay in the low range.