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Twin pregnancy after vitrification of 2-pronuclei human embryos
Ladislava Jelinkova1, Helmy A Selman, Amir Arav
1Christian-Lauritzen-Institut, Frauenstrasse 51, 89073 Ulm, Germany. ljeli@seznam.cz
Objective:
To report an ongoing twin pregnancy after transfer of embryos that were vitrified at the 2-pronuclei stage in a new vitrification solution.
Design:
Case report.
Setting:
A tertiary-care infertility clinic.
Patient(S):
A 26-year-old infertile woman in whom two previous IVF implantations failed.
Intervention(S):
Vitrification of 2-pronuclei embryos, in vitro culture for 48 hours, and transfer into the uterus.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Survival and cleavage after vitrification and achievement of clinical pregnancy.
Result(S):
Six zygotes were vitrified by using a three-step protocol (4% ethylene glycol for 3 minutes, 20% ethylene glycol for 1 minute, and 38% ethylene glycol and 1.2 M trehalose for 0.5 minute). After 2 months of storage in a double-straw system in liquid nitrogen, two zygotes were warmed and cryoprotectants were removed by using a four-step protocol (1 M, 0.5 M, 0.25 M, and 0.125 M of trehalose). Two embryos were transferred after 48 hours of in vitro culture, cleaving to 5 and 6 cells. The resulting twin pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasonography at the sixth week.
Conclusion(S):
Vitrification by using ethylene glycol and trehalose appears to be a safe, promising method for cryopreservation of human zygotes. Storage of vitrified zygotes in a double-straw system does not compromise their subsequent potential for survival and development.