Tamoxifen citrate for women with unexplained infertility

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether administration of tamoxifen citrate (TMX) to women with unexplained infertility is beneficial. The primary outcome was the clinical pregnancy rate.

Study design: In a prospective randomized trial, 66 consecutive women with unexplained infertility were recruited for the study. Thirty-six women received TMX at a 20-mg dosage and 30 women received no ovulation-induction drugs.

Results: Fourteen patients in the TMX group stopped taking TMX, and observations were terminated because of antiestrogenic effects. The pregnancy rate (PR) per patient and the PR per cycle were significantly decreased (P < 0.005) in the TMX group than in the spontaneous group. Kaplan-Meier tests showed that the cumulative PR in the TMX group was significantly lower than in the spontaneous group (P < 0.05). Ten of 14 patients who had stopped taking TMX became pregnant in spontaneous cycles.

Conclusions: Administration of tamoxifen to women with unexplained infertility is not efficacious in terms of increasing the clinical PR.