(18) Effect of Different Sibling Human Embryo Culture Volumes on Clinical Outcomes

Effect of Different Sibling Human Embryo Culture Volumes on Clinical Outcomes

Min Kyoung Kim¹, Su Hee Seok², So-Yeon Ahn¹, Jae Kyun Park², Ji Won Kim², and Woo Sik Lee²
1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, CHA Fertility Center Gangnam, CHA University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
2. Seoul Fertility Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Abstract Text:

This retrospective cohort study included 6173 individually cultured sibling embryos obtained from 859 normal-responder women who underwent invitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection between November 2018 and November 2019 at the CHA Fertility Center in Gangnam. The embryos were cultured in 30 (n=3271) or 10 μl (n=2902) of Sydney IVF cleavage medium under paraffin oil at 37 ˚C, 6% CO₂, 5% O₂ and 99% humidity. On day 3, the embryos were transferred to Sydney IVF blastocyst medium and the embryo quality (days 2, 3, and 5) and utilization rate (day 5) were evaluated.
No statistically significant differences were observed in embryo utilization rate (35.46 vs 35.25%; p=0.86) between embryos cultured in large or small drops of culture medium. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in embryo quality on (day 2, 43.36 vs. 42.66%, p=0.18; day 3, 44.88 vs. 43.31%, p=0.22; day 5, 18.00 vs. 18.00%, p=0.82) and clinical pregnancy rates (days 3, 4, and 5) between the embryos cultured in two different culture volumes (37.91 vs. 40.63%; p=0.67).
In conclusion, culture volumes did not affect the embryo quality, embryo utilization rate, or clinical pregnancy rates. Our findings may provide baseline data supporting flexible culture medium volume adjustments for single-embryo cultures in laboratory practices.