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Successful birth after transfer of vitrified human blastocysts with use of a cryoloop containerless technique
T Mukaida1, S Nakamura, T Tomiyama
1Hiroshima HART Clinic, Japan. hart@enjoy.ne.jp
Objective:
Clinical application of vitrification for the cryopreservation of human blastocysts.
Design:
Clinical trial of vitrification of human blastocysts.
Setting:
Private assisted reproductive technology clinic.
Patient(S):
Supernumerary blastocysts after fresh blastocyst transfer were vitrified for subsequent transfer.
Intervention(S):
Culture of pronuclear embryos to the blastocyst stage in sequential media and subsequent vitrification of supernumerary blastocysts using a cryoloop technique.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Clinical outcome after transfer of vitrified blastocysts.
Result(S):
A total of 60 vitrified blastocysts from 21 patients were warmed, and the survival rate at 2 hours after warming was 63%. Six clinical pregnancies were achieved after 19 transfers. One healthy baby was born, four pregnancies are ongoing, and one ended in miscarriage.
Conclusion(S):
Human blastocysts can be successfully vitrified by suspension on a small nylon loop and a direct plunge into liquid nitrogen. A delivery and ongoing pregnancies prove the safety of this method. This report documents the first successful pregnancy and delivery achieved by blastocyst vitrification using the cryoloop containerless technique.