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Quantitative and qualitative trophectoderm grading allows for prediction of live birth and gender
Thomas Ebner1,2, Katja Tritscher3, Richard B Mayer4,5,3,6,7
1Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Kinderwunsch Zentrum, Landes- Frauen- und Kinderklinik, Krankenhausstr. 26-30, 4020, Linz, Upper Austria, Austria. Thomas.ebner@gespag.at.
Purpose:
Prolonged in vitro culture is thought to affect pre- and postnatal development of the embryo. This prospective study was set up to determine whether quality/size of inner cell mass (ICM) (from which the fetus ultimately develops) and trophectoderm (TE) (from which the placenta ultimately develops) is reflected in birth and placental weight, healthy live-birth rate, and gender after fresh and frozen single blastocyst transfer.
Methods:
In 225 patients, qualitative scoring of blastocysts was done according to the criteria expansion, ICM, and TE appearance. In parallel, all three parameters were quantified semi-automatically.
Results:
TE quality and cell number were the only parameters that predicted treatment outcome. In detail, pregnancies that continued on to a live birth could be distinguished from those pregnancies that aborted on the basis of TE grade and cell number. Male blastocysts had a 2.53 higher chance of showing TE of quality A compared to female ones. There was no correlation between the appearance of both cell lineages and birth or placental weight, respectively.
Conclusions:
The presented correlation of TE with outcome indicates that TE scoring could replace ICM scoring in terms of priority. This would automatically require a rethinking process in terms of blastocyst selection and cryopreservation strategy.
