Single-Embryo IVF Transfers Have Good Birth Weight and Survival Rates

A study says that there is no difference in the delivery rate of women who go for a single prescreened embryo and those who get two unscreened embryos when they undergo in vitro fertilization treatment.

Nearly 175 women, below 43 years of age, received either one genetically prescreened embryo or double-embryo transfer without screening for the study. The research revealed the birth rates in the two groups were equal.

However, the group with single embryo transfer did not deliver twins while around 53 percent of double-embryo transfers were multiples. According to the researchers, IVF treatments produce around 18 percent of twins throughout the U.S.

The research also found that the single-embryo transfer also resulted in higher gestation period whereas double-embryo transfers had threefold chances of preterm delivery. The single-embryo transfers also showed good birth weight among newborns.

"The technology exists today to make single-embryo transfer the standard of care across age groups, eliminating the vast majority of complications stemming from IVF, while maintaining excellent delivery rates for couples who have struggled with infertility," study lead researcher Dr. Eric Forman of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey in Basking Ridge, said.

According to the researchers, most women feel the two-embryo transfers increase the chances of pregnancy, so they opt for it. Only 10 percent of women go for a single-embryo transfer. However, Dr Forman said that the women might now prefer single-embryo transfers after its success rate. "Single-embryo transfer with comprehensive chromosome screening has the potential to be paradigm-shifting and revolutionary in the world of IVF." He said that patients opt for single-embryo transfer and maintain outstanding delivery rates while not taking on the treatment-related risk of multiples. "And for [obstetrician-gynecologists], this will mean fewer high-risk pregnancies handed off to them. It can reduce the health care burden across the spectrum," Forman said.

The study authors stated that the genetic screening used in the study is not yet extensively available in the country and said this will likely change in the near future.