<Original Article>Fixed Schedule for in Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer : Comparison of Outcome between the Short and the Long Protocol

This study sought to evaluate whether a short or long protocol would be preferable for simplification of a fixed-schedule for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) program without negatively affecting the pregnancy rate per cycle. All women were allocated, according to the ovarian stimulation protocol, into two groups. In Group 1 for the short protocol (41 occasions), the patients were treated with human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) before pituitary desensitization using buserelin from cycle day 1. In the Group 2 for the long protocol (106 occasions), the patients received hMG after pituitary desensitization achieved with buserelin. The day and time of ovum pickup (OPU) was fixed as a Wednesday. Ovarian stimulation was started on Monday, 10 days before the day of OPU, with a daily dose of 225 IU/hMG for the following 7 days. Ovulation was induced with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on Tuesday, and OPU was performed on Wednesday; ET was carried out on Friday. No significant differences were found between the two groups in the incidence of canceled cycles [group 1: 7.3 %(3/41), group 2: 2.8 %(3/106)], mean number of oocytes recovered (6.4 ±4.0, 5.8 ±5.1), the fertilization rate [40.6 %(106/261), 44.3 %(272/614)], or the pregnancy rate per cycle [19.5 %(8/41), 18.9 %(20/106)]. These findings indicate that treatment with buserelin/hMG/hCG with either a short or long protocol is useful for a fixed-schedule IVF-ET program.