Gynecology & Obstetrics
Open Access

Abstract

Accumulation of Vitrified Embryos Followed by Frozen Embryo Transfer in Poor Ovarian Responders According to Bologna Criteria

Hwang Kwon, Dong-Hee Choi, Eun-Kyung Kim, Eun-Ha Kim and Seung-Eun Lee

Background: The aim of current study is to compare the pregnancy outcome between natural cycle IVF-ET (NC group) and frozen ET following accumulation of vitrified embryos (ACC-E group).

Methods: The ACC-E group included 38 frozen ETs in 30 patients and the NC group included 92 natural or modified IVF-ET cycles in 91 patients. In the ACC-E group, natural cycle or modified natural cycle with minimal stimulation was used for follicular growth. Embryos were frozen by the vitrification method for several rounds and then thawed embryos were transferred.

Results: Ongoing pregnancy rate (15.8% vs. 8.7%; p=0.24; Ψ=0.1), and live birth rate (15.8% vs. 6.6%; p=0.1; Ψ=0.14) were comparable for ACC-E versus NC group, respectively. However, even though the effect size was small, the chemical pregnancy rate of the ACC-E group was significantly higher than that of the NC group (31.6% vs. 11.9%; p=0.02; Ψ=0.23).

Conclusion: Accumulation of vitrified embryos followed by frozen ET can be considered as a new strategy to improve pregnancy rate in poor ovarian responders.