Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy in poor ovarian responders with four or fewer oocytes retrieved

To assess whether preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A) at the blastocyst stage improves clinical outcomes compared with transfer of embryos without PGT-A in poor ovarian response (POR) patients.

Retrospective cohort study of IVF cycles from 2016 to 2019 at a single academic fertility center. IVF cycles with POR and four or fewer oocytes retrieved were stratified into PGT-A (n = 241) and non-PGT (n = 112) groups. In PGT-A cycles, trophectoderm biopsy, next-generation sequencing with 24-chromosome screening, and single euploid frozen embryo transfer were performed. In non-PGT cycles, fresh or frozen transfer of untested embryos on day 3 or 5 was performed. Main outcomes included live birth rate and miscarriage rate per retrieval.

Patients who underwent PGT-A cycles were significantly less likely to reach embryo transfer compared with those who underwent non-PGT cycles (13.7% vs 70.6%). The live birth rate per retrieval did not differ between the PGT-A and non-PGT groups (6.6% vs 5.4%). Overall, the miscarriage rate was low. The PGT-A group demonstrated a significantly lower miscarriage rate per retrieval (0.4% vs 3.6%) as well as per pregnancy (5.9% vs 40.0%) compared with the non-PGT group. The number needed to treat to avoid one clinical miscarriage was 31 PGT-A cycles.

PGT-A did not improve live birth rate per retrieval in POR patients with four or fewer oocytes retrieved. PGT-A was associated with a lower miscarriage rate; however, a fairly large number of PGT-A cycles were needed to prevent one miscarriage.