TY - JOUR
T1 - Limitations of embryo selection methods
AU - Wong, Kai Mee
AU - Repping, Sjoerd
AU - Mastenbroek, Sebastiaan
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In in vitro fertilization (IVF), the selection of embryos for transfer is generally based on the morphology of the available embryos. However, not all embryos with good morphology implant and on average only one in four treatments are successful. This has driven a quest for alternative selection methods. The best known alternative selection method is preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), which has been used for over a decade before it was shown to be inferior to morphological selection. Now, new forms of PGS (performing biopsy at another stage of development and new methods for analysis) are emerging, just like alternative noninvasive embryo selection methods. However, the concept that better selection will lead to improved IVF results is not so certain anymore. Evidence is accumulating that all available embryos in an IVF cycle can be cryopreserved and transferred in subsequent cycles without impairing pregnancy rates or maybe even with an improvement in pregnancy rates. Embryo selection will then no longer be able to improve the live birth rate in IVF; it could even lower the live birth rate. Embryo selection will only be able to improve the time to pregnancy, if embryos with the highest implantation potential are transferred first
AB - In in vitro fertilization (IVF), the selection of embryos for transfer is generally based on the morphology of the available embryos. However, not all embryos with good morphology implant and on average only one in four treatments are successful. This has driven a quest for alternative selection methods. The best known alternative selection method is preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), which has been used for over a decade before it was shown to be inferior to morphological selection. Now, new forms of PGS (performing biopsy at another stage of development and new methods for analysis) are emerging, just like alternative noninvasive embryo selection methods. However, the concept that better selection will lead to improved IVF results is not so certain anymore. Evidence is accumulating that all available embryos in an IVF cycle can be cryopreserved and transferred in subsequent cycles without impairing pregnancy rates or maybe even with an improvement in pregnancy rates. Embryo selection will then no longer be able to improve the live birth rate in IVF; it could even lower the live birth rate. Embryo selection will only be able to improve the time to pregnancy, if embryos with the highest implantation potential are transferred first
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0033-1363554
DO - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0033-1363554
M3 - Article
C2 - 24515907
SN - 1526-8004
VL - 32
SP - 127
EP - 133
JO - Seminars in reproductive medicine
JF - Seminars in reproductive medicine
IS - 2
ER -