Endometrial preparation
Patients were allocated randomly into two groups. The first group, cycle
stimulated with tamoxifen plus human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) (TMX group);
and the second group implemented routine artificial hormonal endometrial
preparation (HRT group).The first group received tamoxifen 20 mg (Iran Hormone Pharmaceutical Co, Tehran,
Iran) twice-a-day from the third day of the cycle for five consecutive days, and
HMG (Menotropin, Darou Pakhsh Pharmaceutical Co, Tehran, Iran) was prescribed
intramuscularly at a dose of 150 mg on days 6 and 8. The next evaluation of
patients was performed on days 10 of the cycle with transvaginal ultrasound to
measure follicle diameter and endometrial thickness. The stimulation with HMG
was given until the follicular size reached 18mm. Vaginal ultrasound scans were
performed every 3 days until the endometrial thickness was ≥8 mm and the
dominant follicle diameter was 18mm; then, HCG 10000 IU (Choriomon, IBSA,
Lugano, Switzerland) was injected to induce ovulation. If the endometrial
thickness did not reach 8 mm after 15 days, the cycle would be cancelled
regardless of the follicle diameter. Vaginal progesterone 200 mg (Utrogestan,
Besins, Brussels, Belgium) was used three times a day, 48 hours after the HCG
injection. FET was performed on the fourth day of progesterone use. Luteal
support with progesterone continued if the βhCG test was positive at
least for 8 weeks, otherwise it was discontinued immediately after a negative
pregnancy test.In the HRT group, oral contraceptive-LD (manufactured by Aburaihan Co., Tehran-
Iran) was taken on the fifth day of the previous cycle and continued for 21 days
One-third of decapeptil depo 3.75 (Decapeptyl 3.75, Ferring, Germany) was
administered on the 21In both groups, luteal support continued until the result from the pregnancy
test. If pregnancy occurred, the drugs continued till 8 weeks of gestation.