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.
Leukocyte immunotherapy improves live delivery rates following embryo transfer in women with at least two previous failures: A retrospective review
Purpose: To determine whether leukocyte immunotherapy (LIT) could improve live delivery rate following embryo transfer (ET)in women who were not successful in prior attempts. Methods: Paternal leukocytes were intradermally injected in some women who had failed to have a successful pregnancy following at least two prior ETs approximately two weeks prior to fresh or frozen ET and repeated at the time of the 3rd rising serumbeta human chorionic gonadotropin level and at eight weeks if a pregnancy occurred. Clinical pregnancy and live pregnancy rates(PRs) were compared to those women having ETs during the same time period not receiving LIT. Results: Thirty-six of 94 (38.3%) patients receiving LIT (group 1) conceived following fresh or frozen ET vs 98 of 341(28.7%)for women not receiving LIT(group 2) (p = NS).The live delivery rate per ET cycle was 30.8% (39/94)vs 19.7% for group 2 (p = 0.02).For the subset of women failing despite five previous ETs 17 of 37(45.9%) group l women had a clinical pregnancy vs 18of 64(28.1%) group 2 women (p = 0.07%) and live delivery rates were 35.1% (13/37) vs 15.6% (10/64) (p = 0.024). Conclusions: These retrospective data encourage a prospective study of LIT combined with progesterone vs controls receiving progesterone only for recalcitrant patients having ETs.