A randomized study on the effects of intramuscular injections with urinary gonadotrophins (Humegon or Pergonal) on pain, local redness and fever in infertile women opting for in-vitro fertilization.

The objective of this open, multicentre, randomized controlled study in women opting for in-vitro fertilization was to compare the occurrence of pain and redness at the injection site and of post-injection fever after i.m. injection with Humegon (n = 89) or Pergonal (n = 92). Assessments were scoring of pain and redness at the injection site and of post-injection fever during the next 24 h using self-administered questionnaires. Injection site pain was reported in 48.9% of injections with Humegon and in 44.9% with Pergonal (P = 0.45). A trend was seen towards more redness after Pergonal injection (24.0 versus 15.5%; P = 0.08). Post-injection fever was reported in 1.4% with Humegon and in 1.1% with Pergonal (P = 0.80). It was concluded that there are no statistically significant differences between Humegon and Pergonal after i.m. injection with respect to the prevalence of pain and redness at the injection site and of post-injection fever.

A prospective, double-blind, split-subject study on local skin reactions after administration of human menopausal gonadotrophin preparations to healthy female volunteers.

This study was designed to investigate local reactions after the intracutaneous (i.c.) administration of two human menopausal gonadotrophin preparations. For this purpose, 20 healthy female volunteers received six i.c. injections simultaneously, viz. three different batches of both Humegon (Organon, Oss, The Netherlands) and Pergonal (Serono, Geneva, Switzerland) at six different sites on their bodies. Local pain, induration and erythema were registered at 2, 4 and 24 h after administration. No pain was observed. At 4 h after administration, Pergonal-treated sites showed more induration (P = 0.008) and greater surfaces of erythema (P < 0.001) than Humegon-treated sites. Batches of Pergonal showed variation in the surface of erythema induced (P < 0.001), indicating heterogeneity of the batches tested.