Cleavage stage at compaction-a good predictor for IVF outcome

Area of Science:

• Embryology
• Reproductive Medicine
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Background:

• Embryo development and quality assessment are critical in IVF.
• Predicting clinical outcomes from embryo morphology and kinetics is an ongoing challenge.
• Compaction, a key embryonic event, has been less explored as a predictor.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the cleavage stage at which embryo compaction initiates predicts clinical pregnancy outcomes.
• To evaluate the relationship between compaction timing and blastocyst quality.
• To assess the potential of compaction stage as a factor in embryo selection algorithms.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 1194 human embryos.
• Embryos classified into three groups based on compaction initiation (fewer than 8 cells, 8 cells, more than 8 cells).
• Evaluation of morphokinetic parameters and clinical implantation rates after single blastocyst transfer.

Main Results:

• Embryos compacting at >8 cells showed more synchronous cleavage and less fragmentation.
• Compaction at >8 cells was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of top-quality blastocysts (73% and 44% decrease vs. <8 and 8 cells, respectively).
• Compaction at ≥8 cells was crucial for implantation and birth, with birth rates of 11.1% and 18.5% for compaction at 8 and >8 cells, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Cleavage stage at compaction significantly influences blastocyst quality and pregnancy outcomes.
• Compaction timing is a valuable predictor that can be integrated into embryo selection models.
• This finding supports the development of advanced deep learning models for improved IVF success rates.