Fukushima, T., Tajima, C., Fukuma, K., & Maeyama, M. (1982). Tamoxifen in the treatment of infertility associated with luteal phase deficiency. Fertility and Sterility, 37(6), 755-761. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0015-0282(16)46334-x
Fukushima T, Tajima C, Fukuma K, Maeyama M. Tamoxifen in the treatment of infertility associated with luteal phase deficiency. Fertil Steril. 1982;37(6):755-761. doi:10.1016/s0015-0282(16)46334-x
Fukushima, Taito, et al. "Tamoxifen in the treatment of infertility associated with luteal phase deficiency." Fertility and Sterility, vol. 37, no. 6, 1982, pp. 755-761.
For EndNote, Zotero or Mendeley:
Open access
Free to read
No reuse license
Free to read at the publisher (reported by Unpaywall and OpenAlex, not verified by RRM Academy)
Tamoxifen lengthened the average short luteal phase in 17 women
On average, the luteal phase grew longer in tamoxifen cycles in a 1982 case series of 17 infertile women with suspected luteal phase deficiency. Six out of the 17 women got pregnant during those cycles. Seven of the 17 had daily blood tests. In those seven, progesterone output over the luteal phase rose to match five normal women.
Key Findings
The average luteal phase measured 11.1 days in the untreated cycle and 13.5 days in the first tamoxifen cycle (P < 0.001).
Six of the 17 women became pregnant: two in the second tamoxifen cycle, two in the third, one in the fourth and one in the sixth.
Seven women had daily sampling. Their integrated luteal phase progesterone started significantly below five normal women (P < 0.01), rose with tamoxifen, and then matched the normal women.
Endometrial glycogen content in seven women was significantly higher in the tamoxifen cycle than in the untreated cycle (P < 0.025).
In 10 of 12 midluteal biopsies from tamoxifen cycles, the endometrium lagged by 2 or more days, although serum progesterone and estradiol were normal.
Interpretation
This case series tracked 17 infertile women with suspected luteal phase deficiency through an untreated cycle and then tamoxifen cycles. Tamoxifen lengthened the luteal phase and raised luteal progesterone output to match normal women. Glycogen built up in the endometrium. Six of the 17 women became pregnant. The authors left the endometrial lag finding for a later article. The findings support larger studies of tamoxifen for luteal phase deficiency.
RRM Context
The 17 women had no other known reason for infertility. Restorative reproductive medicine treats a short luteal phase as a diagnosable finding with a cause to find. Cycle charting is how this study identified its women and tracked the length of each phase.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
A group of 17 patients with suspected luteal phase deficiency was treated with tamoxifen. Tamoxifen therapy was found to lengthen the luteal phase in all patients and resulted in pregnancy in 6 of 17 patients. The integrated luteal phase progesterone (P) concentration in the nontreatment cycle of seven patients was significantly lower (P less than 0.01) than that of five normal women. Therapy with tamoxifen increased the P concentration to 186.0 +/- 24.4 ng/ml/cycle (mean +/- standard error of the mean), i.e., twice that of the control cycle. The mean estradiol (E2) concentration at the midcycle peak was about twice that observed during the nontreatment cycle. The glycogen content of the endometrial tissue at the midluteal phase in the tamoxifen cycle was significantly higher (P less than 0.025) than that of endometrial tissue in the nontreatment cycle, indicating improvement of the endometrial function.
02cgss904 