Tajima, C. (1984). Luteotropic effects of tamoxifen in infertile women. Fertility and Sterility, 42(2), 223-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0015-0282(16)48017-9
Tajima C. Luteotropic effects of tamoxifen in infertile women. Fertil Steril. 1984;42(2):223-227. doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(16)48017-9
Tajima, Choshin. "Luteotropic effects of tamoxifen in infertile women." Fertility and Sterility, vol. 42, no. 2, 1984, pp. 223-227.
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Tamoxifen raised luteal progesterone in five infertile women
Tamoxifen given in the luteal phase raised progesterone and estradiol in five infertile women. This 1984 study compared each woman's treated cycle with her own untreated cycle. Total progesterone was higher in all five treated cycles. In one woman it rose even though her luteinizing hormone showed no apparent rise.
Key Findings
Total luteal-phase progesterone, summed from daily blood samples after treatment began, was significantly higher in the tamoxifen cycles than in the untreated cycles (P < 0.01).
Total luteal-phase estradiol was also significantly higher in the tamoxifen cycles than in the untreated cycles (P < 0.05).
Total progesterone and total estradiol, summed from the second day of treatment, were each higher in all five tamoxifen cycles than in the untreated cycles.
Luteal phase length averaged 12.4 days in untreated cycles and 13.8 days in tamoxifen cycles, a difference that was not statistically significant.
Luteinizing hormone showed no apparent rise in one of the five women, yet her progesterone and estradiol rose.
Interpretation
This before-and-after study followed five infertile women, each through one untreated cycle and then one cycle with tamoxifen in the luteal phase, the half of the cycle after ovulation. One woman had an inadequate luteal phase beforehand. The author reasons from the woman whose levels rose without a luteinizing hormone rise and suggests the site of action may be the ovary. The findings support larger studies of tamoxifen for luteal phase support.
RRM Context
Luteal-phase progesterone matters in cycle-based evaluation in restorative reproductive medicine. The 1984 measurements show the corpus luteum making more hormone in each woman's treated cycle. The corpus luteum makes progesterone after ovulation. NaProTechnology uses cycle charting and hormone tests to judge luteal function. It asks what lies behind low progesterone in each couple.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Tamoxifen at a dose of 10 mg/day for 5 days was given to five infertile women in the luteal phase. Daily serum samples were obtained during the luteal phase for radioimmunoassay of progesterone (P), estradiol (E2), follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and prolactin levels. The integrated luteal phase concentrations of serum P and E2 before and after cycles of tamoxifen treatment increased from 87.8 +/- 16.2 ng/ml and 1120 +/- 164.4 pg/ml to 131.6 +/- 18.9 ng/ml and 1461 +/- 205.2 pg/ml, respectively (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.05). No apparent increase in circulating LH levels was seen in one of the five cases, but this patient's serum P and E2 levels rose nonetheless. This suggests that the significant increase in circulating P and E2 induced by tamoxifen is not consistently associated with an increase in serum LH concentration.
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