Hyaluronan-enriched transfer medium in cleavage-stage frozen-thawed embryo transfers increases implantation rate without improvement of delivery rate

Hambiliki, Fredwell; Ljunger, Elisabeth; Karlström, Per-Olof; Stavreus-Evers, Anneli

doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.10.019

« Previous Next »Fertility and Sterility
Volume 94, Issue 5 , Pages 1669-1673, October 2010

Hyaluronan-enriched transfer medium in cleavage-stage frozen-thawed embryo transfers increases implantation rate without improvement of delivery rate

Fredwell Hambiliki, M.Sc.
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Elisabeth Ljunger, M.D.
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Per-Olof Karlström, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Anneli Stavreus-Evers, Ph.D.
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Reprint requests: Anneli Stavreus-Evers, Ph.D., Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden (FAX: 4618559775).

Received 24 June 2009; received in revised form 23 September 2009; accepted 9 October 2009. published online 24 November 2009.

Objective

To investigate the efficacy of hyaluronan-enriched transfer media in cleavage-stage frozen embryo transfer cycles.

Design

Two commercially available transfer media were prospectively compared in an observational study.

Setting

Hospital-based in vitro fertilization clinic.

Patient(s)

Patients (n = 425) undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). The embryos transferred were included in either a study group (high hyaluronic acid [HA], n = 199) or a control group (low HA, n = 226).

Intervention(s)

Delivery rate per FET; positive hCG rate, biochemical pregnancy rate, clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, and clinical abortion rate were secondary outcomes.

Result(s)

The use of HA in the transfer media significantly increased the positive hCG rate (37.2% vs. 25.2%) and implantation rate (23.1% vs. 15.8%) without increasing the delivery rate (21.6% vs. 21.2%). More subjects in the study group with a positive hCG test experienced biochemical pregnancy (28.4% vs. 8.9%).