A 2025 meta-analysis combined 151 studies on interventions for advanced maternal age (>35) patients. It found no clear advantage to any specific stimulation protocol or FSH type, no benefit from routine ICSI, and decreased live birth with assisted hatching, while more research is needed on blastocyst versus cleavage-stage transfer and on PGT-A with modern methods.
The Italian Society of Fertility and Sterility and Reproductive Medicine (SIFES-MR) has issued new guidelines on 28 IVF add-ons, outlining which may help in certain situations, which lack evidence, and which should be limited to research.
This post explains how embryos can split during IVF, especially at the blastocyst stage. It covers the timing of splitting, the different types of identical twins, the factors that make splitting more likely, and how IVF labs can reduce the risk of twins after single embryo transfer.
Researchers in a 2023 study review the use of 27 IVF add-ons and provide recommendations by ESHRE, with only several that are recommended or could be considered for the general infertility population.
Researchers in a 2021 review combined multiple studies on assisted hatching and found no clear improvement in live birth rates, though clinical pregnancy rates were slightly higher and the chance of multiple pregnancy increased.