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Updated: Apr 19, 2026
Fertility Preservation Through Oocyte Vitrification: Clinical and Laboratory Perspectives
Published on: September 16, 2021
Economic evaluation of elective single-embryo transfer with subsequent single frozen embryo transfer in an in vitro
Elisa Hernandez Torres1, José Luis Navarro-Espigares1, Ana Clavero2
1Department of International and Spanish Economics, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; University Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain.
Objective:
To analyze the cost-effectiveness of IVF-ICSI cycles with elective single-embryo transfer (eSET), plus elective single frozen embryo transfer (eSFET) if pregnancy is not achieved, compared with double-embryo transfer (DET).
Design:
Cost-effectiveness analysis.
Setting:
Public hospital.
Patient(S):
A population of 121 women (<38 years old), undergoing their first or second IVF cycles.
Intervention(S):
We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis using the results of a prospective clinical trial. The women in group 1 received eSET plus eSFET, and those in group 2 received DET. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Live birth delivery rate.
Result(S):
The cumulative live birth delivery rate was 38.60% in the eSET+eSFET group versus 42.19% in the DET group. The mean costs per patient were €5,614.11 in the eSET+eSFET group and €5,562.29 in the DET group. These differences were not statistically significant. The rate of multiple gestation was significantly lower in the eSET group than in the DET group (0 vs. 25.9%).
Conclusion(S):
This study does not show that eSET is superior to DET in terms of effectiveness or of costs. The lack of superiority of the results for the eSET+eSFET and the DET groups corroborates that the choice of strategy to be adopted should be determined by the context of the health care system and the individual prognosis.
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