Open AccessClinical and neonatal outcomes of patients of different ages following transfer of thawed cleavage embryos and blastocysts cultured from thawed cleavage-stage embryos
Author(s) -
Qiong Zhou,
Shuang Jing,
Luping Xu,
Hui Guo,
CanZhong Lu,
Fei Gong,
Guangxiu Lu,
Ge Lin,
Yifan Gu
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0207340
Subject(s) - cleavage (geology) , andrology , embryo , embryo transfer , biology , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , paleontology , fracture (geology)
Background Frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) has become a routine procedure in assisted reproductive technology (ART). In FET, although blastocysts cultured from thawed cleavage-stage embryos are associated with better perinatal outcomes. it may increase cycle cancellation due to no suitable embryo to transfer. The overall clinical outcomes following transfer of thawed cleavage-stage FET and blastocysts cultured from thawed cleavage-stage embryos in young and advanced age patients remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to identify the optimal FET strategy in young and advanced age women who undergo FET. Methods This retrospective study included 16,387 thaw cycles. We retrospectively analyzed data of couples who had completed the first FET cycle. Two FET strategies were studied: transfer of thawed cleavage-stage embryos (strategy A) or blastocysts cultured from thawed cleavage-stage embryos (strategy B). The clinical and neonatal outcomes of two FET strategies were compared in young (<35 years) and advanced (≥35 years) age women. Results In young women, the clinical outcomes per transfer cycle were better in strategy B than strategy A. While the clinical pregnancy (59.29%, 52.60%) and live birth rates (49.37%, 43.88%) per thaw cycle were significantly higher in strategy A than in B. In women of advanced age, the clinical outcomes per transfer cycle were still better in strategy B than in A, and the clinical pregnancy (36.44%, 39.66%) and live birth rates (25.70%, 30.00%) per thaw cycle were significantly higher in strategy B than in A. Conclusions FET of blastocysts cultured from cleavage-stage embryos showed higher efficiency for per transfer cycle whether in younger or advanced age women. Whereas, when cycle cancellations due to no suitable embryo to transfer were considered, cleavage-stage FET was found to be more suitable for younger women, while FET of blastocysts cultured from cleavage-stage embryos was better suited for women of advanced age.