Embryo quality in controlled ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization in young poor responders

This retrospective matched case control study was conducted to evaluate the effects of poor ovarian response in a group of young women (20-30 years) on embryos quality in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for in vitro fertilization. Thirty-nine young patients with poor ovarian response (≤5 oocytes on retrieval) were enrolled and compared to age- and date-matched controls. Maximal Estradiol levels, number of oocytes aspirated, number of M2 oocytes and number of fertilized oocytes were significantly lower in the study group compared to controls. Implantation rate and rate of good quality embryos transferred of the study group and control were comparable (15.3 versus 16.3% and 62 versus 67.2%, respectively). Additionally, clinical pregnancy rate per transfer and delivery rate per transfer were also comparable (26.6 versus 35.8% and 23.3 versus 30.7%, respectively). The rate of cycles with no transfer, however, was 23.07% in the study group compared to zero cycles with no transfer in the control group. We conclude that young poor responders may still have reasonable proportion of good quality embryos when compared to controls. This results in comparable implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate. Cycle transfer cancelation, however, represents a true barrier for achieving pregnancy.