The influence of early cleavage on embryo developmental potential and IVF/ICSI outcome.
OBJECTIVE
To observe whether early cleavage can be a predictor of embryo developmental potential, pregnancy and implantation rates.


METHODS
A total of 9,544 embryos in 1,095 in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles were observed with regard to the appearance of early cleavage at 25-29 h post-insemination.


RESULTS
A significantly higher proportion of excellent quality embryos were observed in the early cleavage group compared to the late cleavage group (52.5 versus 28.9%, P < 0.01). In the early cleavage group there was also a higher rate of pregnancy per transfer compared with the late cleavage group (38.7 versus 26.3%, P < 0.01). In addition, we found that transfer of only one early cleavage embryo resulted in a high pregnancy rate (38.5%) and a low multiple pregnancy rate (18.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
Early cleavage is a strong indicator of embryo quality, and may be used as an additional criterion in the selection of embryos for transfer to increase pregnancy rate and reduce multiple pregnancy rate.
IVF Centre, International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital, Jiao Tong University Medical School, Shanghai, China.
Jing
J
Fu
Xian-Jing
XJ
Wang
Yong-Wei
YW
Wang
Jian
J
Sun
Kristina
K
Gemzell-Danielsson
Xiao-Xi
XX
Sun
D000328:Adult; D002970:Cleavage Stage, Ovum; D010064:Embryo Implantation; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome