One Embryo as Good as Two in Second IVF Attempt
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Women undergoing a second round of in-vitro fertilization should get one embryo instead of two, suggests new Swedish research that found the first approach is almost as successful as the second and greatly reduces the risk of multiple births.
A previous study produced the same result, but this latest report examined the women for a longer period of time, through more embryo implantations.
The findings "should provide comfort for those who want to perform single-embryo transfers that the pregnancy rates are equivalent," said Dr. William E. Gibbons, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Gibbons said debate over the number of embryos to implant began about a decade ago, when in-vitro fertilization (IVF) began to be more successful.
"Since only a fraction of eggs released by a woman are capable of producing a baby, the pregnancy rate is higher when more than one embryo is put back in," he said. "However, in the late '90s the standard number of embryos replaced at that time resulted in an increasing rate of triplets and quadruplets."
Add A New Comment
Add A New CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.