One Embryo as Good as Two in Second IVF Attempt

Study found live birth rates similar, fewer multiple births with one embryo

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Women undergoing a second round of in-vitro fertilization should get one embryo instead of two, suggests new Swedish research that found the first approach is almost as successful as the second and greatly reduces the risk of multiple births.

A previous study produced the same result, but this latest report examined the women for a longer period of time, through more embryo implantations.

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The findings "should provide comfort for those who want to perform single-embryo transfers that the pregnancy rates are equivalent," said Dr. William E. Gibbons, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Gibbons said debate over the number of embryos to implant began about a decade ago, when in-vitro fertilization (IVF) began to be more successful.

"Since only a fraction of eggs released by a woman are capable of producing a baby, the pregnancy rate is higher when more than one embryo is put back in," he said. "However, in the late '90s the standard number of embryos replaced at that time resulted in an increasing rate of triplets and quadruplets."

Multiple births can lead to a variety of medical complications that can put the lives of some babies at risk.

In the new study, the Swedish researchers examined the records of 661 women who first underwent implantation with a fresh embryo, followed by implantation with one or two frozen embryos if the first attempt was unsuccessful. If those attempts failed, they went through more attempts; the scientists followed them for up to four more tries.

The findings appear in the Oct. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Forty-four percent of those who received one embryo the first time got pregnant and gave birth to live babies; 51 percent of those who got two embryos did.

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