The effect of blastomere number on embryo survival upon freezing/thawing.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if the blastomere number of embryos at the time of freezing is related to its quality post-thaw.


METHODS
A retrospective cohort analysis of frozen/thawed embryos. Only multi-cell embryos were used for this study. If an embryo was of good quality it would either be transferred or re-frozen.


RESULTS
There did not appear to be any trend for a lower percentage of good quality embryos with fewer numbers of blastomeres.


CONCLUSIONS
Though 4-cell embryos have a markedly lower implantation potential upon fresh embryo transfer compared to 6-8-cell embryos, this is not reflected in their ability to survive freeze-thawing.
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J H
JH
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, Camden, NJ, USA. laurie@ccivf.com
Horwath
D
D
Summers-Chase
D
D
Yuan
W
W
Swenson
K
K
Levito
C
C
D001757:Blastomeres; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015925:Cryopreservation; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis