Received February 18, 2024
Accepted August 25, 2024

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective is to analyze whether there is still room for ovarian stimulation with a long protocol in poor responders. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study analyzing information obtained from the database of Vida Centro de Fertilidade, a private clinic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Included were poor responder patients, classified according to the Bologna criteria, who were first subjected to conventional treatment with an antagonist protocol, without success, followed by a long protocol with agonist from January 2018 to June 2023. Statistical analysis utilized the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (version 20). Comparison of continuous variables between groups used the Mann-Whitney U test or Student's t-test, as appropriate. The chi-square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. RESULTS: A better response from patients using the agonist treatment compared to the antagonist treatment was observed, in the outcomes of the number of follicles above 14 mm on the day of the trigger (3.17 versus 2.1; p<0.05), number of eggs on the day of retrieval (3.5 versus 1.37; p<0.05), number of mature eggs (2.67 versus 1.37; p<0.05) and number of embryos after fertilization on the first day of development (1.87 versus 0.8; p<0.05). The cancellation rate was slightly lower in this protocol (0.03 versus 0.43; p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The long protocol still appears to yield positive results in poor responder patients who were previously subjected to antagonist treatment.