Effectiveness and outcomes of embryo cryopreservation programs in assisted reproductive technologies

2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yana Nikolayevna Kravchuk ◽  
Alla Stanislavovna Kalugina ◽  
Olga Vladimirovna Bystrova ◽  
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Shlykova

Background. Embryo cryopreservation is an essential part of ART programs today. In recent years vitrification method is used increasingly widely. Purposes and tasks. To compare the effectiveness of ART programs using vitrified and fresh embryos, as well as different endometrial preparation regimes for frozen\thawed embryo transfer (modified natural cycle (MNC) and the preparatory hormone therapy(PHT)). To analyze the course of pregnancy and perinatal outcomes after vitrified embryo transfer. Materials and methods. We prospectively assessed the ART programs effectiveness and perinatal outcomes in 153 patients (I group), who underwent vitrified embryo transfer in 2011-2013 year. To prepare the endometrium for thawed embryo transfer in 83 patients PHT (Ia subgroup) and MNC in 70 patients (Ib subgroup) were used. Control group consisted of 70 patients, who underwent fresh embryo transfer. Results. The clinical pregnancy rate, birth rate and “take home baby” rate were not significantly different between the I (47,5 %; 30,9 %; 30,9 %) and II (53,0 %; 34,9 %; 32,5 %) groups, and between Ia (48,3 %; 28,4 %; 28,4 %) and IIb (46,6 %; 34,1 %; 34,1 %) subgroups. Complications during pregnancy and delivery, birthweight, length, Apgar score, congenital malformation rate did not differ significantly after vitrified and fresh embryo transfer. Conclusion. Vitrification is an effective method to achieve clinical results, comparable to native cycles. Application of PHT and MNC results in similar clinical outcomes. Transfer Vitrified embryo transfer does not have a negative impact on obstetric and perinatal outcomes when compared with native cycles.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 2319-2329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Blockeel ◽  
Alison Campbell ◽  
Giovanni Coticchio ◽  
John Esler ◽  
Juan A Garcia-Velasco ◽  
...  

Abstract An increasing number of researchers have alluded to the potential benefit of deferring the transfer of embryos produced during assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) away from ovarian stimulation, using cryopreservation to enable this. The scientific evidence that may justify this recent trend in the use of the so-called ‘freeze-all strategy’ includes early, mostly small randomised controlled trials that have demonstrated an increase in live birth rates after elective embryo cryopreservation in certain patient populations, as well as evidence from cohort studies and retrospective analyses. What are the risks and benefits of freeze-all strategies in ART, who are the patients in whom it is likely to be advantageous, and does the current evidence allow us to identify situations when deciding that a fresh embryo transfer would be counter-productive? ART professionals are often faced with challenging clinical decisions regarding the best course of treatment for their patient. The purpose of this opinion paper is to provide a clinical guide for whether to perform a fresh embryo transfer or to opt for freezing all embryos in specific situations.


GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-274
Author(s):  
Gunai R. Asfarova ◽  
Veronika I. Smol'nikova ◽  
Natalia P. Makarova ◽  
Iuliia S. Drapkina ◽  
Anastasiia P. Sysoeva ◽  
...  

Cumulus cells are essential during oocytes growth and development, as well as during their maturation and fertilization. Research results have shown that embryo co-cultivation with autologous cumulus cells increases the frequency of blastocyst formation, and also improves the effectiveness of ART programs. Embryo transfer in such programs is recommended to be carried out using the CAT technology (Cumulus-Aided embryo Transfer), which includes embryo cultivation on a layer of cumulus cells and embryo transfer with a certain amount of diluted cumulus cells. Patient G., 38 years old, came to the department with infertility for 15 years and recurrent implantation failure in history. The patient had ART program with autologous co-cultivation of embryos with cumulus cells and a new CAT transfer technology. The patient fell pregnant and gave birth to a healthy child. Autologous cumulus cells can be a source of biologically active substances and improve embryological parameters and implantation rate in ART programs. Embryo co-cultivation with cumulus cells is especially important for patients with recurrent implantation failure. This technique can become an alternative for optimizing human embryos culturing.


2013 ◽  
Vol 304 (2) ◽  
pp. R69-R72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk P. Conrad ◽  
Valerie L. Baker

Investigations in the rat model of pregnancy indicate an important role for the corpus luteal (CL) hormone relaxin in the maternal circulatory and osmoregulatory changes in pregnancy, which are epitomized by profound vasodilation and modest hypoosmolality, respectively. In a pilot study of infertile women who became pregnant through donor eggs, in vitro fertilization, and embryo transfer, the gestational rise in glomerular filtration and fall in plasma osmolality were markedly subdued. Because these women were infertile, they lacked a CL and circulating relaxin (and possibly other vasoactive CL hormones). Based on these findings in pregnant rats and women, we hypothesize that infertile women conceiving through donor eggs will have overall subdued circulatory changes (e.g., attenuated reduction in systemic vascular resistance and subdued increase in cardiac output) particularly during early pregnancy when CL hormones predominate before the full development and maturation of the placenta. In contrast, infertile women conceiving by autologous eggs retrieved after ovarian stimulation and fresh embryo transfer may have a relatively hyperdynamic circulation due to the presence of many CL (up to 20 or more) and higher circulating levels of vasodilatory ovarian hormones such as relaxin. Emerging evidence suggests that women undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia and small for gestational-age babies. This increased risk may be partly caused by the maternal milieu, which is not physiological in ART pregnancies due to the abnormal status of the CL.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Chen ◽  
Yong Peng ◽  
Xinyi Ma ◽  
Siming Kong ◽  
Shuangyan Tang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe births of more than 8 million infants have been enabled globally through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), including conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with either fresh embryo transfer (ET) or frozen embryo transfer (FET). However, the potential for elevated risks of ART-related disorders persists in adult life, and the underlying epigenetic mechanisms are largely uncharacterized. Here, we recruited 100 nuclear families and profiled the DNA methylomes, genome-wide histone modifications and transcriptomes to clarify the inherent extra risks attributable to specific ART procedures. We discovered that IVF-ET seemed to introduce less disturbance into the infant epigenome than IVF-FET or ICSI-ET did. Furthermore, we noted approximately half of the DNA methylomic changes in ART-conceived offspring could be explained by parental background biases. Through removal of the parental effect, we confirmed that ART per se would introduce minor DNA methylation changes locally. More importantly, we found that ART-induced epigenomic alterations were highly enriched in the processes which might contribute to increased incidence of preeclampsia during pregnancy and metabolic syndrome in offspring. Overall, our study provides an epigenetic basis for the potential long-term health risks in ART-conceived offspring that reinforces the need to review all methods of human ART.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
P Erdenetogtokh ◽  
S Ganbat ◽  
Hiroshi Suzuki

Babesia infections occur mainly in animals, and are transmitted by ticks. The severity of the diseases varies considerably depending on the species of Babesia involved as well as the immune response of the infected animal. In Mongolia infection produced by Babesia parasites is widely spread, provoking severe damage to the agricultural and economic sectors. Currently, strategies to control and prevent the infection are inefficient. Indeed, the necessity to look for suitable and accessible strategies to obtain animals free from the infection is needed. Currently, assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are used for the improvement of productivity in livestock. Moreover, embryo transfer seams to be useful approach to obtain clean embryos obtained from infected animals. Therefore, by using a mice model (ICR) infected with Babesia microti, an alternative method to obtain animals free from infection was examined. ICR mice at 8 weeks old were challenged with 0.2 ml of 1x107 IRBC/ml by i.p injection. After infection, superovulation was induced and then embryos were obtained and washed. Then, their development stage along with their morphological characteristics were monitored. In vitro embryos obtained from uninfected mice were used as a control group. The results indicate that the infection does not have any influence on pre-implantation embryonic development and morphological characteristics. Thus, we suggest that embryos obtained from infected animals might be useful for embryo transfer in order to improve productivity of livestock and reduce the risk of congenital infection. In summary, ART such as embryo transfer might be an useful technique in countries where Babesiosis is an endemic disease. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjas.v11i2.214 Mongolian Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol.11(2) 2013 pp.36-42


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximo Garcia-Dominguez ◽  
José Salvador Vicente ◽  
María P. Viudes-de-Castro ◽  
Francisco Marco-Jiménez

The concept of developmental programming suggests that the early life environment influences offspring phenotype in later life, whose effects may also be manifested in further generations. Valuable pieces of evidence come from the fields applying assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), which deprive embryos of their optimal maternal environment and were thus associated with subsequent developmental deviations. Recently, we demonstrated that the in vitro manipulations during a vitrified embryo transfer procedure incurs a cumulative and transgenerational decline in the growth performance of the resulting offspring. Here, we provide a longitudinal study to investigate whether previous developmental deviations could be indistinctly paternally or maternally transmitted using crossbred mattings. Our findings revealed that early embryo manipulations through fresh and vitrified embryo transfer incurred paternally transmissible effects over the growth pattern and adult body weight, which seemed not inheritable via the female germline. Similar inheritable effects were observed after fresh and vitrified embryo transfer, suggesting that disturbing optimal embryo development through in vitro manipulations was the principal trigger of transmissible effects, rather than embryo cryopreservation per se.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Zhou ◽  
QiuPing Yao ◽  
Lihua Yang ◽  
Ya Yu ◽  
Jilai Xie ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) per se has been demonstrated to be related to adverse pregnancy outcomes, including recurrent miscarriage and unexplained infertility. Although therapy of glucocorticoid to infertile remains controversial, aspirin combined with prednisone(P + A) are used frequently in antithyroid antibodies (ATA) positive infertile women in clinical practice. Methods A multicenter retrospective study was performed in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Ningbo Women and Children's Hospital and People's Hospital of Jinhua. We recruited 494 euthyroid infertile women positive for anti-thyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb) and/or thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) with thyroid stimulating hormone 0.35-4.0mIU/L, who undergoing first in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycle during the period of 2017 to 2020. 346 women were ultimately recruited, including 187 patients receiving fresh embryo transfer and 159 patients receiving frozen-thawed embryo transfer. Among them, infertile 150 women were treated with prednisone(10mg/d) and aspirin(100mg/d), while the other 196 infertile women were untreated as control group. The treatment commenced on the day of embryo transfer and continued until the clinical pregnancy was determined by ultrasonography around 30 days after embryo transfer. Results Clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) of the first fresh embryo transfer cycle was 57.5% vs. 63.5% in control vs. in treated group (P = 0.414) and CPR was 57.8% versus 61.8% in the two groups in the frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycle(P = 0.606). Additionally, the prevalence of delivering a live birth at the fresh embryo transfer was 49.6% in the non-treatment group and 47.3% in the P + A treated group(P = 0.762). Cumulative CPR was similar in the groups at the fresh embryo transfer (control vs treated group: 56.9% vs 61.0%, P = 0.534). By conducting logistic regression, combined treatment of P + A appeared to have no influence on CPR or miscarriage rates (MR) at the first embryo transfer. Furthermore, the low but within the reference level of free triiodothyronine (FT3) was seen as a poor predictor of spontaneous abortion at the fresh embryo transfer. Conclusions To conclude, with regard to euthyroid women with TAI undergoing the first IVF-ET cycle, adjuvant treatment of P + A after the embryo transfer may be unnecessary irrespective of the fresh or frozen-thawed embryo transfer.


Author(s):  
Kh. M. Omarova ◽  
E. S.-А. Ibragimova ◽  
T. Kh.-M. Khashaeva ◽  
I. Kh. Magomedova ◽  
R. G. Omarova ◽  
...  

Objective. To assess the condition of newborns from women of the late reproductive period (LRP), depending on the parity of births.Material and methods. The authors examined 130 pregnant women and their 130 newborns. Group I consisted of 60 primiparous women of late reproductive period and their 60 newborns, Group II included 40 multiparous women of the late reproductive period and their 40 newborns, Group III (control group) consisted of 30 healthy pregnant women aged from 18 to 25 years and their 30 newborns. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of the gestation course and perinatal outcomes. Ultrasound and neurosonography were used among the instrumental research methods.Results. Women of the late reproductive period gave birth to children in a state of asphyxia twice more often, who develop neurological disorders 1,5 times more often and complex postnatal adaptation and disorders of the perinatal period are twice more likely. Among women of the late reproductive period, primiparous women gave birth to children with the most severe disorders.Conclusion. The high incidence of neurological diseases in children born from women of the late reproductive period is associated with age-related changes in their germ cells, the implementation of assisted reproductive technologies, and the intake of hormonal drugs in early pregnancy. The data obtained should be taken into account by obstetricians in the course of pregnancy in women of late reproductive age; they should be included in the group of high risk of developing neurological disorders in children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Peigné ◽  
J D Mouzon ◽  
A Kiehl ◽  
A Fraissinet ◽  
V Maget ◽  
...  

Abstract Study question Are pregnancies after embryo donation (ED) at higher risk of complications than those issued from autologous frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET)? Summary answer Even in young women, the risk of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is four time higher in pregnancies after ED versus controls. What is known already After oocyte donation, a higher risk of PIH is well described. It is more controversial after sperm donation. The risk origin remains uncertain, even though an immunological explanation seems most likely. In ED, the fetus being fully allogeneic to his parents may be less well-tolerated. Very few data are reported about pregnancies after ED. The same allogenic model exists in surrogacies, but pregnancy complications are not well described in the literature. Study design, size, duration This anonymous, multicenter, comparative observational retrospective cohort study included all singleton ED pregnancies diagnosed at 7–8 weeks, from January 2003 to December 2018, in six French ART centers. For each, two controls were matched among autologous FET pregnancies. 209 pregnancies were included: 73 ED and 136 controls. Multiple pregnancies were excluded because of their increased associated obstetrical risks. Participants/materials, setting, methods Controls were matched according to pregnancy date, parity and women’s age. The first two singleton pregnancies after each index case meeting the selection criteria were retained. Each center coordinator collected information on infertility, pregnancy pathologies, outcomes and newborns. Statistical methods included univariate and multivariate analyses. According to French practice, all women were under 44 y/o. The main outcome was the percentage of PIH for ED versus controls. Main results and the role of chance ED was indicated for genetic disease in 17 cases (23.3%), double total infertility in 28 cases (38.3%), and double partial/total infertility in 35 cases (47.9%). Groups were comparable in age (mean age: 34.5 ± 8.6 versus 34.5 ± 4.5; p = 0.68), BMI, except for parity (more nulliparity in ED group: 90.4% vs 79.4%; p = 0.04). Pregnancy outcomes were similar for ED and control groups, the percentages of deliveries being 80.8% and 83.8%, respectively (p = 0.58). PIH occurred significantly more frequently among ED than control pregnancies (24.6% versus 11.9%; P = 0.04), with the difference mainly observed for severe forms: preeclampsia and HELLP (17.5% vs 4.6%; p = 0.01). No eclampsia was reported. In contrast, isolated hypertension frequency was comparable (7.0% vs. 7.3%, p = 0.94). Regarding labor and delivery mode, in ED group C-section was more frequent (47.3% vs 29.2%; p = 0.03). In neonatal data, no difference was found between ED and control group for prematurity, weight and height at birth, Apgar score, Small for gestational age, Large for gestational age and sex ratio. Seven neonatal malformations were recorded in ED group and 3 in the control group (NS). Limitations, reasons for caution Retrospective study in a relatively long period when different endometrial preparation for frozen-thawed embryo transfer and embryo cryopreservation method were used. Relatively limited number of ED because of low practice in France. No analysis of embryo stage at transfer (cleaved embryo or blastocyst). Wider implications of the findings: The PIH risk must be acknowledged to inform couples and provide careful pregnancy monitoring. A special care for gestational carrier should also be done since the allogenic situation is the same than in ED recipients. Trial registration number Not applicable


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