Clinical application of a new assisted hatching method using a piezo-micromanipulator for morphologically low-quality embryos in poor-prognosis infertile patients.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effect of a assisted hatching technique using a piezo-micromanipulator on pregnancy rates in poor-prognosis infertile patients.


METHODS
A prospective randomized study.


METHODS
The Infertility and IVF unit of the Kyoto University Hospital.


METHODS
Infertile patients who had been treated for >4 years and failed in previous IVF trials at least twice.


METHODS
Two hundred forty-eight IVF cycles from 173 patients were divided into two groups: cycles with the transfer of embryos treated by assisted hatching and cycles with the transfer of nontreated embryos. Each group was subdivided into two groups according to embryo morphology: cycles in which three or two morphologically good-quality embryos were transferred and cycles in which one or no morphologically good-quality embryos were transferred. Assisted hatching was performed by a piezo-micromanipulator.


METHODS
The clinical pregnancy rates and implantation rates.


RESULTS
The clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were significantly higher in the assisted hatching group of patients with three or two good-quality embryos than in the other three groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The assisted hatching using a piezo-micromanipulator improved the pregnancy and implantation rates in poor-prognosis infertile patients with good-quality embryo transfer but had no effect in patients with low-quality embryo transfer.
Nakayama
T
T
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
Fujiwara
H
H
Yamada
S
S
Tastumi
K
K
Honda
T
T
Fujii
S
S
D000328:Adult; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000628:therapy*; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies