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Placental histopathology in IVF pregnancies resulting from the transfer of frozen-thawed embryos compared with fresh embryos

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

To study whether placentas of singleton pregnancies conceived after fresh embryo transfer (ET) contain more histopathological lesions compared with placentas of singleton pregnancies conceived after frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET).

Methods

A prospective cohort study of placental histopathology in 131 women with singleton IVF pregnancies who delivered at a single medical center, between December 2017 and May 2019. The prevalence of different placental histopathology lesions was compared between women who conceived after fresh ET and FET.

Results

Women who conceived after fresh ET (n = 74) did not differ from women who conceived after FET (n = 57) with regard to maternal age, BMI, nulliparity, or infertility diagnosis. Gestational week at delivery was lower in pregnancies conceived after fresh ET (38.5 vs. 39.2 weeks, respectively, p = 0.04), and a trend for a lower birthweight following fresh ET was noted (3040 vs. 3216 g, respectively, p = 0.053). However, placental histopathology analysis from pregnancies conceived after fresh ET was comparable to pregnancies conceived after FET, with regard to the prevalence of maternal vascular malperfusion lesions (45.9% vs. 50.9%, respectively, p = 0.57), fetal vascular malperfusion lesions (17.6% vs. 21.1, p = 0.61), acute inflammatory response lesions (28.4% vs. 28.1%, respectively, p = 0.96), and chronic inflammatory response lesions (13.5% vs. 8.8%, respectively, p = 0.48).

Conclusion

Placental histopathology did not differ between IVF pregnancies conceived after fresh and frozen ET. These results are reassuring for clinicians and patients who wish to pursue with transferring fresh embryos.

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Author notes

  1. Yossi Mizrachi and Ariel Weissman contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel

    Yossi Mizrachi, Ariel Weissman, Gili Buchnik Fater, Maya Torem, Eran Horowitz, Arieh Raziel, Jacob Bar & Michal Kovo

  2. Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Yossi Mizrachi, Ariel Weissman, Gili Buchnik Fater, Maya Torem, Eran Horowitz, Letizia Schreiber, Arieh Raziel, Jacob Bar & Michal Kovo

  3. Department of Pathology, EdithWolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel

    Letizia Schreiber

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  1. Yossi Mizrachi
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Mizrachi Y., Buchnik Fater G., Torem M., Schreiber L., and Kovo M. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mizrachi M., Weissman A., and Kovo M., and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yossi Mizrachi.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Registry No. 0181-17-WOMC) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Mizrachi, Y., Weissman, A., Buchnik Fater, G. et al. Placental histopathology in IVF pregnancies resulting from the transfer of frozen-thawed embryos compared with fresh embryos. J Assist Reprod Genet 37, 1155–1162 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-020-01741-6

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