Clin Exp Reprod Med.  2018 Mar;45(1):25-30. 10.5653/cerm.2018.45.1.25.

Effects of three-area laser-assisted zona thinning in 8-cell human embryos on pregnancy outcomes in vitro fertilization

• Jeong JE
• Joo BS
• Kim CW
• Kim HG
• Joo JK
• Lee KS

• KMID: 2408573
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5653/cerm.2018.45.1.25

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study conducted a preliminary examination of the effects of three-area laser-assisted zona thinning (LAZT) during the cleavage stage of embryo development on the hatching process in human in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) with subjects of advanced female age or frozen-thawed (FT) embryos.
METHODS
Eight-cell stage embryos were treated with LAZT in three areas of the zona pellucida at 120° intervals. The control group was embryos without LAZT. Of the 72 consecutive fresh cycles and the 28 FT embryo transfer cycles, the patients in 55 fresh cycles and 17 FT cycles declined LAZT, and those cycles were defined as the control group.
RESULTS
In the fresh cycles, the pregnancy rates were similar in the LAZT and control groups. However, in the FT cycles, the pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the LAZT group than in the control group (45.5% in the LAZT group vs. 23.5% in the control group, p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION
These results show that multi-area LAZT resulted in significantly improved pregnancy outcomes in human 8-cell embryos compared to controls.

Keyword

Age; Frozen-thawed embryos; Laser- assisted hatching; Multiple thinning; Pregnancy outcome

MeSH Terms

Embryo Transfer
Embryonic Development
Embryonic Structures*
Female
Fertilization in Vitro*
Herpes Zoster*
Humans*
In Vitro Techniques*
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Outcome*
Pregnancy Rate
Pregnancy*
Zona Pellucida