ABSTRACT
Research question
Do morphokinetic profiles and treatment outcomes differ between embryos developed
from vitrified or fresh oocytes?
Design
A retrospective, multicenter analysis, used data from eight CARE Fertility clinics
across the UK between 2012 and 2019. Patients receiving treatment using embryos developed
from vitrified oocytes (n = 118 women, n = 748 oocytes, providing 557 embryos) during
this time period were recruited and matched with patients undergoing treatment with
embryos developed from fresh oocytes (n = 123 women, n = 1110 oocytes, providing 539
embryos) in the same timeframe. Time-lapse microscopy was used to assess morphokinetic
profiles, including: early cleavage divisions (2- through to 8-cell), post cleavage
stages including time to start of compaction, time to morula, time to start blastulation
and time to full blastocyst. Duration of key stages (hpi) such as the compaction stage
were also calculated. Treatment outcomes were compared between the two groups (live
birth rate, clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate).
Results
A significant delay of 2-3 hours across all early cleavage divisions (2- through to
8-cell) and time to start of compaction occurred in the vitrified group versus fresh
controls. The compaction stage was significantly shorter in vitrified oocytes (19.02±0.5
hours) compared to fresh controls (22.45±0.6 hours). Therefore, there was no difference
in the time (hpi) that fresh and vitrified embryos reached the blastocyst stage (108.03±0.7
vs 107.78±0.6). No significant difference occurred for treatment outcomes between
the two groups.
Conclusion
Vitrification is a useful technique for extending female fertility with no effects
on IVF treatment outcome.
Key words
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Biography
Kathryn Montgomery holds an MRes Bioscience from Aberystwyth University, from which her research dissertation was conducted in collaboration with CARE Fertility, Manchester, resulting in this publication. Following the successful completion of her masters degree Kathryn is now an equine semen analysis technician for Stallion AI Services, UK.
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 21,
2023
Received in revised form:
February 13,
2023
Received:
December 15,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
Crown Copyright © 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved.
