Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of hCG in the management of recurrent early pregnancy loss.
Design: A prospective, randomized, controlled trial.
Setting: Miscarriage Clinic, Women's Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Subjects: Eighty-one women attending the miscarriage clinic with idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss were randomized to receive hCG supplementation or placebo in early pregnancy.
Main outcome measure: The success rate or live birth rate.
Results: In women with regular menstrual cycles it was found that hCG had no beneficial effect, the pregnancy success rate being 86% in both groups. However, women with oligomenorrhea had a pregnancy success rate of 40% in the placebo group but a statistically significant improvement to 86% if hCG was given.
Conclusions: Human chorionic gonadotropin can be recommended for idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss in women with oligomenorrhea.