Pregnancy in premature ovarian failure after therapy using Chinese herbal medicine

We present ovulation that occurred after the administration of traditional Chinese herbal medicine for 3 months in a woman with premature ovarian failure (POF) and secondary amenorrhea for 8 years. Traditional Chinese medicine concentrated herbal extracts of cooked rehmannia, Chinese yam, wolfberry fruit, dogwood fruit, cyathula root, dodder seed, antler glue, tortoise-plastron glue, epimedium and morinda root were prescribed, which were a modification of the herbal formula Zuo-gui-wan. When the patient discontinued the Chinese herbal medicine treatment and tried therapy with clomiphene citrate, neither ovulation nor conception occurred. Eight months after beginning clomiphene citrate therapy, the concentrations of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone were still in the postmenopausal range. The modified formula of Zuo-gui-wan was prescribed again and the patient conceived 1 month after taking Zuo-gui-wan. Thus, we suggested that Chinese herbal medicine restored ovarian function effectively and promptly, and offers another option for treating infertility in patients with POF.