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Evidence summaries

Number of Embryos for Transfer Following in-Vitro Fertilisation or Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection

The use of single embryo transfer in a fresh in vitro fertilisation cycle may result in lower livebirth rates with much lower rates of multiple pregnancy than double embryo transfer, but subsequent transfer of a frozen embryo appear to provide outcomes that are comparable with one fresh cycle of double embryo transfer. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 17 studies with a total of 2505 participants. The difference in cumulative livebirth rates (CLBR) after repeated single embryo transfer (SET) compared to double embryo transfer (DET) was not statistically significant (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.10; I² = 0%; 4 studies, n=985). This suggests that for a woman with a 42% chance of live birth following a single cycle of DET, the chance following repeated SET would be between 34% and 46%. The live birth rate (LBR) per woman in a single fresh treatment was higher following DET than SET (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.75; I² = 0%; 12 studies, n=1904). The multiple pregnancy rates (MPR) was significantly higher in the DET group (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.54).

References

  • Kamath MS, Mascarenhas M, Kirubakaran R et al. Number of embryos for transfer following in vitro fertilisation or intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2020;(8):CD003416. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords