Naville, A. H., Wheatley, R. E., Kistner, R. W., & Rock, J. (1964). INDUCTION OF OVULATION WITH CLOMIPHENE CITRATE. Fertility and Sterility, 15, 290-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0015-0282(16)35225-6
Naville AH, Wheatley RE, Kistner RW, Rock J. INDUCTION OF OVULATION WITH CLOMIPHENE CITRATE. Fertil Steril. 1964;15:290-309. doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(16)35225-6
Naville, A. H., et al. "INDUCTION OF OVULATION WITH CLOMIPHENE CITRATE." Fertility and Sterility, vol. 15, 1964, pp. 290-309.
For EndNote, Zotero or Mendeley:
License
No open license is recorded for this paper. Reuse terms are set by the publisher.
Most women given clomiphene citrate showed signs of ovulation
This 1964 study treated 37 women. Some did not ovulate at all. Others ovulated only sometimes. Doctors at two Boston clinics gave them clomiphene citrate. In 2 out of 3 women without ovulation, signs of ovulation followed clomiphene citrate treatment. Most women with irregular cycles showed signs of ovulation too. Pregnancies followed in both groups.
Key Findings
Among 21 women with no ovulation for at least a year, 14 (66%) showed signs of ovulation, occurring in 29 of 89 treatment cycles (32%).
Among 15 women with irregular ovulation, 14 presumably ovulated, across 49 of 65 treatment cycles.
Three pregnancies occurred among the women with no ovulation, and five occurred among the women with irregular ovulation.
Ovarian cysts developed in 11 patients; 6 had hot flashes, and 4 others reported nausea, blurred vision, or bloating.
One of the pregnancies ended in an early miscarriage. Among three patients inadvertently given the drug in early pregnancy, the authors saw no sign of harm to fetal development.
Interpretation
This case series followed 37 women treated with clomiphene citrate at two Boston fertility clinics in the early 1960s. Doctors tracked ovulation with temperature charts, tissue samples, and menstrual flow, and urinary hormone tests supported these signs in some women. In patients who paused treatment for a cycle and then restarted, the return of ovulation signs after resuming clomiphene pointed to a link with the drug. The authors note that some presumed ovulations in women with irregular cycles might have occurred without treatment. The findings support larger studies of clomiphene citrate for inducing ovulation.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine looks for why ovulation stops. Causes range from thyroid problems to polycystic ovary changes. RRM favors evaluation before treatment. Naville and colleagues sorted each woman without ovulation by type of problem, such as postpartum or hypothalamic, in their Table 1. Their temperature charting was an early use of a tool doctors still use today to track whether and when ovulation happens.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
