Here you’ll find a brief summary of new IVF studies for December 2023* that I think are helpful for patients. I’ll be updating this post each week of December with new studies, before making a separate post for next month.
*Note that the publication dates of these studies might be outside of the indicated period, mostly because of how PubMed indexes the article.
🔗 Original studies are referenced in this post or within the linked Remembryo posts.
💡 Reminder: Terms underlined with a dotted black line are linked to glossary entries. Clicking these does not count toward your paywall limit.
Week 1 (Dec 4 – Dec 11)
The POPI-Plus tool: Prediction model of outcome of pregnancy in IVF from a large retrospective cohort. Researchers created a tool to help predict the chance of live birth based on 2 beta-hCG readings that were taken 48 hours apart. The initial reading took place 13 days after a day 2 transfer, 12 days after a day 13 transfer, and 10 days after a day 5 transfer. The best model had an AUC of 0.76.
Impact of adenomyosis on IVF outcomes in women undergoing donor oocyte transfers: a prospective observational study. Researchers reported on pregnancy outcomes for patients with adenomyosis who transferred a single embryo from donor eggs. There were no differences in clinical pregnancy or live birth rates, but miscarriage rates increased from 9.6% to 20.2%. Certain adenomyosis features were associated with better, or worse, outcomes. If interested, I have another study on adenomyosis outcomes in patients who also have endometriosis, which can be accessed here.
Does cleavage stage morphology increase the discriminatory power of prediction in blastocyst transfer outcome? Over 8,000 blastocysts were transferred and researchers compared their day 3 characteristics to help predict live birth. Day 3 cell number, fragmentation and speed of development were all associated with live birth rates. In their models, the biggest influence on live birth rate was whether the embryo became a blastocyst on day 5 or 6. For more info on the predictive ability of day 3 quality on blastocyst transfer outcomes, check this post.
Does endometrial compaction before embryo transfer affect pregnancy outcomes? a systematic review and meta-analysis. This meta-analysis combined the results of 18 studies to investigate the impact of endometrial compaction on pregnancy outcomes. They found no difference in clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, live birth or miscarriage rates. There were some differences when abdominal ultrasound was used compared to transvaginal ultrasound.
Week 2 (Dec 12 – Dec 18)
Reproductive outcomes of single frozen-thawed embryo transfer in patients with endometriosis after preimplantation genetic testing. A total of 625 patients with endometriosis had a PGT-A tested embryo transferred. There were no differences in live birth or miscarriage rates. Patients with endometriosis were more likely to have aneuploid embryos.
The ‘freeze-all’ strategy seems to improve the chances of birth in adenomyosis affected women. Women with adenomyosis had a fresh or frozen embryo transfer. The cumulative live birth rate was higher when patients transferred frozen embryos (44.1% vs 32.4%). If interested, I have another study on adenomyosis outcomes in patients who also have endometriosis, which can be accessed here.
Preconception sleep duration, non-daytime work schedules, and incidence of spontaneous abortion: a prospective cohort study. This study compared miscarriage rates in patients with different sleeping patterns. Miscarriage rates didn’t increase in females who slept <6h compared to those who slept 7-8.9h. Female and male night shift work was associated with increased miscarriage risk. For more info on sleep quality and it’s impact on IVF cycles, check here.
Does endometriosis inflict harm on embryos? A systematic review of embryo morphokinetics analysed by time lapse monitoring in women with endometriosis. This study reviewed 5 studies that evaluated embryo quality in patients with endometriosis, based on time-lapse metrics. For a recent meta-analysis that looks at IVF outcomes for endometriosis patients, check here.
Prospective reproductive outcomes according to sperm parameters, including DNA fragmentation in recurrent pregnancy loss. This small study evaluated the impact of sperm DNA fragmentation on recurrent pregnancy loss (using the sperm DNA integrity, or SDI, test). There was no increased risk of pregnancy loss with high SDF, but couples with a higher SDF were less likely to get pregnant.
Week 3 & 4 (Dec 19 – Jan 1)
These weeks were combined because of the holidays.
Intrauterine instillation of human chorionic gonadotropin at the time of blastocyst transfer: Systematic review and meta-analysis. This study looked at the impact of intrauterine administration of hCG before embryo transfer as an add-on. They combined the results of 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 2,499 patients. They found no benefit on live birth or ongoing pregnancy rates. A previous meta-analysis found a benefit.
The impact of difficult embryo transfer on the success of IVF: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Some doctors have difficulty in performing an embryo transfer, which could be due to a number of reasons, and might require additional instruments or manipulation. This study combined the results of 15 studies that reported on clinical pregnancy after a difficult transfer, and found that pregnancy rates decreased.
Therapeutic efficacy of the optimization of thyroid function, thrombophilia, immunity and uterine milieu (OPTIMUM) treatment strategy on pregnancy outcomes after single euploid blastocyst transfer in advanced age women with recurrent reproductive failure. In this study, women aged 40 or older with recurrent implantation failure or recurrent pregnancy loss received the OPTIMUM treatment. This involved treatment of endometritis, high Th1/Th2 cell ratios, hypothyroidism and thrombophilia. Women who received the OPTIMUM treatment had improved clinical pregnancy and live birth rates.
Antibiotic cured chronic endometritis remains a risk factor for early pregnancy loss in the subsequent frozen euploid embryo transfer. In this study, two groups of patients were compared. The first group involved patients with chronic endometritis who were treated with antibiotics and cured. The second group involved patients without chronic endometritis. Patients who were cured of endometritis had a higher chance of early pregnancy loss compared to patients without chronic endometritis.
Does being conceived by assisted reproductive technology influence adult quality of life? This study looked at the quality of life of children born by assisted reproductive technology using a questionnaire. Individuals conceived by ART had a better quality of life in terms of improved social relationships, reduced psychological stress and better financial situations compared to non-ART individuals.
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About Embryoman
Embryoman (Sean Lauber) is a former embryologist and the founder of Remembryo, an IVF research and fertility education website. After working in an IVF lab in the US, he returned to Canada and now focuses on making fertility research more accessible. He holds a Master’s in Immunology and launched Remembryo in 2018 to help patients and professionals make sense of IVF research. Sean shares weekly study updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit regularly. He also answers questions on Reddit or in his private Facebook group.
