Should we look for a low-grade threshold for blastocyst transfer? A scoping review

Authors/Creators

James M. Kemper
Yanhe Liu, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Masoud Afnan
Elizabeth R. Hammond
Dean E. Morbeck
Ben W. J. Mol

Abstract

Embryo quality is a key determinant of the success of IVF. Although the focus has been on selecting the best embryo for transfer, the classification of low-grade blastocysts (LGB) in existing scoring systems has received less attention. This is worrisome; embryo freezing allows optimal use of all created embryos, thus maximizing the cumulative live birth rate, which is arguably the most important outcome for infertile couples. A PubMed search was conducted in August 2020, using ‘(((‘poor-quality’ OR ‘poor quality’) OR (‘low-grade’ OR ‘low grade’)) AND (‘embryo’ OR ‘blastocyst’)) AND (‘pregnancy’ OR ‘live birth’)’. This scoping review shows that LGB have similar euploidy and pregnancy success rates after implantation and have no adverse effects on pregnancy or perinatal outcomes. Evidence for pregnancy outcomes is lacking for different grades of LGB, with most studies clustering all LQB as one to compare with optimal blastocysts.

RAS ID

39750

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

2021

Volume

42

Issue

4

PubMed ID

33632655

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

Copyright

free_to_read

Publisher

Elsevier

Comments

Kemper, J. M., Liu, Y., Afnan, M., Hammond, E. R., Morbeck, D. E., & Mol, B. W. J. (2021). Should we look for a low-grade threshold for blastocyst transfer? A scoping review. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 42(4), 709-716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.01.019

Recommended Citation

Kemper, J. M., Liu, Y., Afnan, M., Hammond, E. R., Morbeck, D. E., & Mol, B. W. (2021). Should we look for a low-grade threshold for blastocyst transfer? A scoping review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.01.019