Aim
This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the endometrial receptivity array (ERA) as a diagnostic tool and the impact of personalized embryo transfer (pET) for the treatment of patients with ...recurrent implantation failure (RIF) in Japan.
Methods
Fifty patients with a history of RIF with frozen‐thawed blastocyst transfers were recruited from July, 2015 to April, 2016. Endometrial sampling for the ERA and histological dating and a pET according to the ERA were performed. The receptive (R) or non‐receptive (NR) status of the endometrium as a result of the first ERA, endometrial dating, and pregnancy rates after the pET were analyzed.
Results
Of the patients with RIF, 12 (24%) were NR. Among them, eight (66.7%) were prereceptive. A clinical follow‐up was possible in 44 patients who underwent the pET. The pregnancy rates were 58.8% per patient and 35.3% per first pET in the R patients and 50.0% per patient and 50.0% per first pET in the NR patients. Discrepancies between the ERA results and histological dating were seen more in the NR patients than in the R patients.
Conclusions
For patients with unexplained RIF, there is a significance in searching for their personal window of implantation (WOI) using the ERA, considering the percentage of those who were NR and the pregnancy rates that resulted from the pET. By transferring euploid embryos in a personal WOI, much better pregnancy rates are expected.
Background: To evaluate obstetrical and neonatal outcomes of singletons conceived after advanced assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques: conventional IVF pregnancies (C-IVF), ejaculated ...sperm intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), assisted oocyte activation (AOA), in vitro maturation (IVM), and testicular sperm extraction (TESE). Methods: The subjects were 3,028 singletons who were born after fresh or frozen embryo transfer. The subjects were separated into five groups: C-IVF (Formula: see text), ICSI (Formula: see text), AOA (Formula: see text), IVM (Formula: see text), and TESE (Formula: see text). We evaluated obstetrical and neonatal outcomes calculating the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) using multivariable logistic regression analyses for fresh and frozen embryos and for cleavage and blastocyst transfer. The C-IVF group was used as a background control for the ICSI group. Moreover, the TESE, AOA, and IVM groups were compared to the ICSI group to evaluate the effects of the ICSI procedure itself. Results: The incidence of perinatal complications was significantly lower in the ICSI-fresh group (Formula: see text, 95% CI: 0.10–0.83, Formula: see text). Regarding sex ratio, the IVM was significantly associated with sex ratio imbalance toward female in both fresh and frozen groups (Formula: see text, 95% CI: 0.10–0.96, Formula: see text, 95% CI: 0.07–0.98, Formula: see text). On the other hand, there were no significant differences in preterm birth rate, low birth weight rate and congenital abnormalities rate between conventional IVF, ICSI, and the other groups. Conclusions: There were no negative effects on obstetrical and neonatal outcomes between conventional IVF and ICSI. Although this was a limited sample size study, advanced ART technologies such as AOA, IVM, and TESE also seem to have a low risk of adverse impact on obstetrical and neonatal outcomes but may have a slight impact on sex ratio.
Purpose
To find the best methods to achieve the highest pregnancy and birth rates for couples needing testicular sperm extraction (TESE)‐intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
Methods
...Retrospectively studied were 801 patients with male factor infertility who had undergone TESE‐ICSI between April, 1996 and July, 2016 and who had been categorized into four groups: obstructive azoospermia (OA); non‐obstructive azoospermia (NOA); Klinefelter syndrome (KS); and cryptozoospermia (Crypt). The sperm retrieval rate, hormone levels, fertilization rate (FR), pregnancy rate (PR), and birth rate (BR) after ICSI among three groups were compared: fresh testicular sperm (FS)‐fresh oocytes (FO) (Group I); frozen‐thawed testicular sperm‐FO (Group II); and FS‐vitrified‐warmed oocytes (Group III).
Results
The testicular sperm recovery rate was 57.8% (463/801): 89.6% in the Crypt, 97.1% in the OA, 28.9% in the NOA, and 42.2% in the KS groups. The follicle‐stimulating hormone levels were significantly higher in the NOA and KS groups and the testosterone levels were significantly lower in the KS group. The FR, PR, and BR were: 65.2%, 43.2%, and 28.5% in group I; 59.2%, 33.4%, and 18.7% in group II; and 56.4%, 33.8%, and 22.1% in group III.
Conclusion
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection with FS‐FO achieved the best PR and BR. It should be considered what to do in cases with no testicular sperm by TESE. The authors hope that ICSI with donor sperm will be allowed in Japan in the near future.
Oocyte vitrification is one of the methods for preserving fertility of cancer patients. In 2013, we reported a successful live birth using cryopreserved oocytes from a patient who contracted ...Ph-positive acute lymphoid leukemia at the retrieval age of 20. In this report, we described a second live birth from the same patient. The patient visited our clinic in November 2018 hoping to utilize vitrified oocytes cryopreserved in 2007. As a result, a day 3 single eight-cell stage embryo was transferred in a hormone replacement therapy cycle. She became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy girl (2,740 g) in September 2019. This is a case report of two live births from 10 matured oocytes that had been preserved for 12 years.
To evaluate viability and subsequent developmental ability in mouse germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes ultrarapidly vitrified with serial stepwise exposure.
Experimental animal study.
University-based ...research laboratory.
Three- to 4-week-old female (C57BL/6J x CBA) F1 mice in a laboratory environment.
Vitrified and thawed GV oocytes were subjected to in vitro maturation, fertilization, and culture, some of which were transferred to recipients.
Postthaw survival, maturation, cleavage, development to blastocysts, and live births.
In the single-step preequilibrium, the rates of postthaw survival, maturation to metaphase II, and development to blastocysts were 97.5%, 95.8%, and 23.7%, respectively. In the serial 10-step preequilibrium developed in this study, which is named SWEID, the corresponding rates were 98.6%, 92.6%, and 42.9%, respectively, showing a statistically significantly higher rate of development to blastocysts in the SWEID group than in the single-step group. Transfer of two-cell-stage embryos derived from the GV oocytes vitrified by SWEID resulted in the production of live offspring.
This is the first report that shows live birth after cryopreservation of mouse GV oocytes using an ultrarapid vitrification. Our method, SWEID, may have advantage in allowing storage of female gametes toward advances in infertility treatment and reproductive biology.
There have been 60 births after transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue: 58 using the slow freezing method, and two using the vitrification method. DMSO and EG are widely used as ...cryoprotectants. However DMSO is a known epimutagen, and EG has been reported to be toxic in high concentrations. In this study, we measured residual DMSO and EG in ovarian tissue after vitrification and slow freezing. Cryoprotectants remained at a high concentration in the vitrified/warmed ovarian tissue just before transplantation (DMSO: 9.8 mg/g, EG: 9.8 mg/g). We must consider the impact of the cryoprotectants on the mother and the baby.