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Published on: March 2, 2017
Blastocyst development potential in fresh versus vitrified oocytes: a retrospective matched comparative
Trang Thao Vu1, Khanh Thi Mai Nguyen1, Huong Thi Thu Hoang2
1Assisted Reproductive Technology Department, An Sinh Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; An Sinh Institute for Research and Training of Medicine and Pharmacology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Research Question:
Is there a difference in embryo development potential between fresh oocytes and cryopreserved oocytes from the same patient, when both are subjected to the same conditions for fertilization and culture?
Design:
A retrospective matched comparative cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 239 autologous oocyte IVF cycles (2138 fresh and 1259 frozen oocytes) between March and October 2024. In total, 3002 oocytes (1743 fresh mature oocytes and 1195 surviving warmed oocytes) were included in the analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed based on maternal age, oocyte morphological abnormalities and semen quality to further explore differences in embryological outcomes.
Results:
The development potential of fresh oocytes was significantly higher than that of frozen oocytes, as shown by the cleavage-stage embryo rate (median 67.81% versus 59.90%), good-quality cleavage-stage embryo rate (74.38% versus 64.79%), blastocyst formation rate (42.66% versus 28.25%), and good-quality blastocyst rate (34.04% versus 20.97%) (all P ≤ 0.005). Subgroup analyses also supported superior blastocyst development from fresh oocytes (P < 0.05). Multivariate regression showed that factors such as maternal age, semen quality, and oocyte or sperm morphology did not influence outcomes significantly, indicating minimal bias in the analysis.
Conclusions:
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to apply a retrospective, matched, comparative cross-sectional design to compare the development potential of autologous fresh and frozen oocytes under identical intracytoplasmic sperm injection and culture conditions. The results suggest that to achieve the best outcomes in IVF cycles, the decision to freeze oocytes should be personalized, considering each patient's unique characteristics, especially in women of advanced maternal age.
