Pregnancy rates (prs) according to embryo cell number at time of embryo transfer (ET).
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate pregnancy and implantation rates following fresh and frozen embryo transfer (ET) according to blastomere number.


METHODS
A retrospective study from 1/1/97 to 9/30/98 including all cycles with ETs irrespective of age.


RESULTS
65% of fresh transfers had at least one 8-cell embryo vs only 39.6% for frozen ET. The clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were higher when one 8-cell embryo was transferred (64% and 24%) vs a 5-7 cell embryo (41% and 14.5%) for fresh transfers. There was less of a difference with frozen ETs (46% and 19% for 8-cell vs 38% and 17% for 5-7 cell).


CONCLUSIONS
Since mostly only 8-cell embryos at day 3 reach the blastocyst stage, these data raise questions as to whether the quest to attain the highest pregnancy rate per transfer through blastocyst transfer, may be at the expense of overall pregnancy rate (fresh and frozen) from a given oocyte harvest.
Check
J H
JH
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Copper Hospital/University Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, USA.
Wilson
C
C
Summers-Chase
D
D
Choe
J K
JK
Nazari
A
A
Lurie
D
D
D000328:Adult; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D010064:Embryo Implantation / Q000502:physiology; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009865:Oocytes / Q000254:growth & development; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D012189:Retrospective Studies