Neonatal outcome after vitrified day 3 embryo transfers: a preliminary study
Objective
To compare and evaluate the neonatal outcome in infants born after vitrified day 3 embryo transfers with that of fresh day 3 embryo transfers.
Design
Retrospective analysis.
Setting
Private assisted reproductive center.
Patient(s)
Sixty-nine women, who delivered 89 babies.
Intervention(s)
Surplus day 3 cleavage stage embryos were vitrified using ethylene glycol-based solution by cryoloop carrier system and transferred after warming.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Post-thaw survival of embryos, implantation and pregnancy rates (PR), neonatal outcome, and congenital birth defects.
Result(s)
A total of 907 vitrified day 3 embryos from 285 cycles were warmed and 817 survived (90.37%), which were used for embryo transfer. The pregnancy, implantation, miscarriage, and live birth rates achieved were 36.84%, 18.11%, 7.71%, and 24.21%, respectively. Of the 69 deliveries, singleton, twins, and triplets comprised of 72.46%, 26.08%, 1.44%, respectively, and 8 (11.59%) were preterm deliveries. The mean Apgar scores were 8.3, 9.2, 9.4 at 1, 5, and 10 minutes. The congenital birth defect rate was 1.18%. These results were comparable with pregnancies using fresh embryo transfers.
Conclusion(s)
This preliminary study shows that vitrification is an efficient method of cryopreservation of human day 3 embryos with neonatal outcome comparable to fresh embryo transfers.
Key Words: Day 3 embryos, vitrification, cryoloop, neonatal outcome, congenital birth defects
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G.A.R.R. has nothing to disclose. G.J.P. has nothing to disclose. K.M.K. has nothing to disclose. K.M. has nothing to disclose.
PII: S0015-0282(08)01132-1
doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.05.014
© 2009 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

