Critical Review of 160 Clomiphenerelated Pregnancies

Abstract

An evaluation is presented of 160 consecutive pregnancies achieved in previously infertile women treated with Clomiphene for various defects of ovulation. The patient population represented a group of individuals with a high degree of infertility. Thirty-four % of the individuals were infertile for 3 or more years. An individual was diagnosed as having an ovulatory defect if she had proven anovulation for 6 months, amenorrhea of 6 months duration or longer, or poor corpus luteum function as established by urinary pregnandiol levels. Sixty-seven % of the patients who conceived did so during the first 3 treatment cycles. There were 140 single pregnancies, 18 twin pregnancies, 1 triplet and 1 quadruplet pregnancy. In these 183 fetuses there were 17 abortions, no still births, 9 neonatal deaths, (all of multiple pregnancies) and 157 living infants giving a fetal salvage rate of 80.4%. The low abortion rate might well be related to the fact that substitutional estrogen-progestin therapy was given to all patients who conceived following Clomid-induced ovu-lations. The larger number of multiple pregnancies reported in Clomiphene treated patients may be multi-factorial in origin. This point is discussed.