The effect of embryo quality on outcome in vitro fertilization pregnancy

Objective:To detect the effect of embryo quality on pregnancy outcome in vitro fertilization (IVF) Methods: Between June 1998 and June 1999,a review of 195 consecutive IVF-embryo transfer (ET)cycles performed in 162 couples was carried out. The mean age, insemination rate, cleavage rate, proportion of the number of blastomeres, embryo morphology, the number of embryo transferred, endometrial thickness, implantation rate and the rate of multiple pregnancy were analyzed. Results: Pregnancy rate of embryo transfer cycles was 27.2% (53/195). The implantation rate was 14.7% (91/621). The miscarriage rate was 30.2%(16/53). However, significant difference were found in insemination rate (74.7%∶63.5%; P 0.05), embryo cleavage rate (74.8%∶68.1%; P0.05), proportion of the number of blastomere (P0.05), percentage of total number of grade I embryo transferred (60.4%∶43.7%; P0.05), percentage of at least one grade I embryo transferred (39.6%∶ 31.7%; P0.05), the number of embryo transferred(P0.01) and endometrial thickness (P 0.05) between conception and non-conception cycles. Therewas no significant dif-ference in all of these parametric rate, between the miscarriage group and the ongoingpregnancy/live birth group. The significant differences in the rate of multiple pregnancy were noted. Conclusion: embryo morphology can be taken as a parameter to evaluate embyo quality, but embryo quality has no effect on the pregnancy outcome once clinical pregnancy is established.