title: Evaluation of variations in pregnancy rates, implantation rates and early abortion rates within an in-vitro fertilization programme.
abstract: Despite the application at this clinic of a standardized programme for in-vitro fertilization of human oocytes over the last 27 months, great variations in the rates of implantation, clinical pregnancy and early abortion have been observed during certain periods. A retrospective evaluation of these results showed that these variations occurred in periods when various commercially available batches of Earle's medium (the medium was the only variable changed during the 27 months) were used and that two sub-optimal batches of Earle's medium from one of the sources used during one of three periods (period 2) was most likely to be responsible for sub-optimal embryo quality and, consequently, for a halving of the pregnancy rate (30 versus 15%) and of the implantation rate (11 versus 5%) and an increase in the early abortion rate (23 versus 50%). It is concluded that the quality of the culture medium is of major importance for the success of an IVF programme. The factor(s) in the medium responsible for the decrease in embryo quality has not been identified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Lund, General Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sundström
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wramsby
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000328:Adult; D003470:Culture Media / Q000592:standards*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media