Comparison of blastocyst transfer to day 3 transfer with assisted hatching in the older XXXX .

@entity1 @entity3798
OBJECTIVE: To compare cycle outcomes in similar populations of @entity1 over 40 who underwent blastocyst transfer compared with @entity1 who had day 3 embryo transfer with assisted hatching (ET/ @entity3798 ). DESIGN: Retrospective study. STTING: University hospital-based program. @entity1 (S): Eighty-six IVF cycles in @entity1 ages 40 to 43 years who had more than three eight-cell embryos on day 3. On day 3 of embryo culture, @entity1 chose either to undergo blastocyst transfer or day 3 ET/ @entity3798 . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Pregnancy and cryopreservation rates were recorded. RESULT(S): In 48 cycles, blastocyst transfer was performed, and in 38 cycles day 3 ET/ @entity3798 was performed. There was no statistically significant difference between the blastocyst transfer group and the day 3 ET/ @entity3798 group with respect to age (41.1 +/- 0.9 years vs. 41.6 +/- 0.8 years), percentage of intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles (29.2% vs. and 27.6%), number of oocytes (14.9 +/- 5.6 vs. 12.8 +/- 4.0), or number of eight-cell embryos (6.1 +/- 2.2 vs. 5.4 +/- 1.5). Significantly fewers embryos were transferred per cycle with blastocyst transfer (2.6 +/- 1.0) compared with day 3 ET/ @entity3798 (5.9 +/- 2.0). The viable pregnancy rate was similar in the blastocyst transfer group (29.2%) and in the day 3 ET/ @entity3798 group (26.3%). Embryos for cryopreservation were available in significantly more cycles in the blastocyst transfer group (52.1%) than in the day 3 ET/ @entity3798 group (21.1%). Cleavage stage arrest occurred only in one cycle. CONCLUSIONS: Blastocyst transfer appears to be as effective as day 3 ET/ @entity3798 in older @entity1 with good embryos. Higher cryopreservation rate in the blastocyst transfer group may represent an advantage over day 3 ET/ @entity3798 . Older @entity1 may also benefit from the information that extended culture provides them regarding their oocyte quality.
