A Study to Evaluate the Implantation and Clinical Pregnancy Rates in Patients Undergoing Sequential Frozen Day 3 Embryo and Day 5 Blastocyst Transfer

ABSTRACT

Background

Sequential transfer is a technique in which cleavage stage embryo(s) and blastocyst(s) are transferred sequentially in the same cycle. It prevents the potential disadvantage of cycle cancellation due to the nonformation of a blastocyst. The present study is undertaken to evaluate the implantation and clinical pregnancy rates in patients undergoing sequential transfer and to assess the success rates in different categories of patients.

Materials and methods

A retrospective multicentric case series study was done on patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles at GarbhaGudi IVF centers in Bengaluru. A total of 155 women had undergone frozen embryo sequential transfer of day 3 embryos and day 5 blastocysts. During frozen embryo transfer (ET), conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) downregulated HRT, and mild stimulation protocols were used to prepare the endometrium. Adequate luteal phase support was given for 14 days, and pregnancy was confirmed by doing serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

Results

The majority underwent HRT (76.13%) protocol. The average endometrial thickness on the day of the hCG administration was 8.68 ± 1.13. The clinical pregnancy rate was 67.1 with 73.34% singletons, 22.86% twins, and 3.81% triplets. The study reported 57.14% ongoing pregnancies, 34.28% live births, and only 20% abortions.

Conclusion

Sequential transfer resulted in better clinical pregnancy and birth rates. It also had the advantage of blastocyst transfer without exposing the whole cycle to the risk of cancellation.

How to cite this article

Asif M, Maheshwari, Vijay AS, et al. A Study to Evaluate the Implantation and Clinical Pregnancy Rates in Patients Undergoing Sequential Frozen Day 3 Embryo and Day 5 Blastocyst Transfer. Int J Infertil Fetal Med 2023;14(2):55-58.