Relationship of follicular size to the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection-derived human embryos.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the embryonic development of oocytes obtained from follicles of different sizes.


METHODS
Oocytes (n = 819) were retrieved from women at 40 years of age or younger during 86 in vitro fertilization cycles and categorized as small, medium, or large based on the estimated volume of follicular fluid at the time of retrieval.


RESULTS
The rates of good quality embryos from the large, medium, and small groups on days 2 and 3 were 76.85% and 66.20%, 74.00% and 61.33%, and 69.81% and 58.49%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the rates of good quality embryos between the three follicular volume groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though fewer oocytes completed maturation in the small follicle group than in the other two groups, the quality of the embryos in all three groups was the same on days 2 and 3. These findings suggest that follicles of all sizes should be aspirated during the intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle as follicles of every size were a good source of embryos.
Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taitung, Taiwan.
Tsai-Fang
TF
Lee
Robert Kuo-Kuang
RK
Lee
Yuh-Ming
YM
Hwu
Yu-Fen
YF
Chih
Yi-Chun
YC
Tsai
Jin-Tsung
JT
Su
D000328:Adult; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D015571:Follicular Fluid; D006801:Humans; D054315:Oocyte Retrieval / Q000592:standards*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D006080:Ovarian Follicle / Q000166:cytology*; D056826:Single Embryo Transfer; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic