title: Impact of the assessment of early cleavage in a single embryo transfer policy.
abstract: The policy of single embryo transfer (SET) adopted for women <36 years old since 1 July 2003, strongly calls for improvement of embryo selection. A total of 196 cycles in which SET was performed were randomly allocated to two groups. In the first group, early cleavage was assessed (ECA) 25 h after insemination. The embryo with the best score that cleaved early, if present, was selected for transfer. In the second group, early cleavage was not assessed (ECNA) and embryo selection was based solely on the embryo score. Ninety-eight cycles were allocated in the ECA and ECNA group respectively. Early cleavage occurred in 64% of cycles and 32.2% of embryos. Patient population and embryo morphology were similar between the two groups, and similar delivery rates were observed (27.6 versus 24.5% respectively in the ECA and ECNA groups). The assessment of early cleavage as additional parameter did not improve the delivery rate in the single embryo transfer policy.
authors.affiliation: Fertility Clinic Erasmus Hospital, Free University of Brussels, French Speaking, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels Belgium. semilian@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emiliani
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fasano
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vandamme
authors.forename: Anne-Sophie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Vannin
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verdoodt
authors.forename: Jamila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Biramane
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delbaere
authors.forename: Yvon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Englert
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Devreker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate