Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T17:02:32.540Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

29B - Blastocyst Culture Should Be a Routine in All IVF Cycles

Against

from Section IV - Embryology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2021

Roy Homburg
Affiliation:
Homerton University Hospital, London
Adam H. Balen
Affiliation:
Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine
Robert F. Casper
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto
Get access

Summary

Blastocyst culture has increased immensely in the last decade and is now routine practice; this has resulted in some benefits such as increased pregnancy rate per embryo transferred compared to cleavage stage transfer and a decrease in multiple pregnancy rates without a decrease in pregnancy rates overall when a single blastocyst is transferred. Potential disadvantages of blastocyst transfer include increased cycle cancellation rates, an altered sex ratio (favouring males), a reduction in embryo cryopreservation rates and an increase in preterm birth rates. Crucially, there is no robust evidence that blastocyst culture and transfer results in equal cumulative pregnancy rates compared to cleavage stage transfer, meaning that blastocyst transfer may be detrimental in some cases. Ultimately there is no robust evidence that all embryos that fail to blastulate in-vitro would do so in-vivo, and so centres should continue to utilise treatment algorithms that include both blastocyst and cleavage stage transfer options.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Fertility treatment in 2014: Trends and figures. HFEA, 2016; available from: www.hfea.gov.uk/10243.html.Google Scholar
Kasraie, J. (2019) Cleavage stage or blastocyst transfer: which is better? In: Kovacs, G, Salamonsen, L (eds.) How to Prepare the Endometrium to Maximize Implantation Rates and IVF Success. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 91103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glujovsky, D, Farquhar, C, Quinteiro Retamar, AM, Alvarez Sedo, CR, Blake, D. Cleavage stage versus blastocyst stage embryo transfer in assisted reproductive technology. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016, Issue 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maheshwari, A, Hamilton, M, Bhattacharya, S. Should we be promoting embryo transfer at blastocyst stage? Reprod BioMed. Online, 2016;32(2):142–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×