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Impact of Group vs Individual Embryo Culture Strategies on Blastocyst and Clinical Outcomes

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Abstract

Embryo culture is one of the most important steps in an assisted reproduction laboratory. Embryos can be cultured individually, one embryo per media drop, or in groups, culturing several embryos in the same media drop. Due to the controversy generated on this subject, we wondered which embryo culture method would have the best results in terms of quality and blastocyst formation rate. We designed a prospective randomized study comparing two different embryo culture strategies: group and individual embryo culture. The data were obtained from 830 embryos from 103 egg donation treatments. The zygotes were randomized into two groups: individual culture (group 1) or group culture (group 2). The embryos were cultured in 35-µl drops until day 5 when they were classified morphologically. We observed a significant increase in the blastocyst formation rate and in the usable embryo rate in individual culture on day 5 compared to group culture. However, good embryo quality (A/B blastocysts), implantation, and pregnancy rates were similar regardless of the type of embryo-culture. As a conclusion, individual culture may increase blastocyst formation rate and may benefit embryo quality on day 5. Our results support previous reports suggesting that individual culture could improve embryo development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Embriology, Instituto Bernabeu, Alicante, Spain

    Miguel Herreros, Laura Martí, Nerea Díaz, María Carmen Tió, Adoración Rodríguez-Arnedo, Jaime Guerrero & Jorge Ten

  2. Molecular Laboratory, Instituto Bernabeu Biotech, Alicante, Spain

    José A. Ortiz

  3. Reproductive Medicine, Instituto Bernabeu, Alicante, Spain

    Andrea Bernabeu & Rafael Bernabeu

Authors
  1. Miguel Herreros
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  2. Laura Martí
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  3. Nerea Díaz
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  4. María Carmen Tió
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  10. Jorge Ten
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Correspondence to Miguel Herreros.

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Ethics Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of University Hospital of San Juan de Alicante (25.11.2020; No. 20/045 Tut).

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Herreros, M., Martí, L., Díaz, N. et al. Impact of Group vs Individual Embryo Culture Strategies on Blastocyst and Clinical Outcomes. Reprod. Sci. 31, 1705–1711 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-024-01480-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-024-01480-4

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