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Cumulative live birth and surplus embryo incidence after frozen-thaw cycles in PCOS: how many oocytes do we need?

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to evaluate the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) and surplus embryo rate of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients during in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) treatment.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed 1142 PCOS patients who underwent first IVF in our institution between January 2011 and December 2014. All patients were categorized into five groups according to the number of oocytes retrieved. Main outcomes include CLBR and surplus embryo rate.

Results

A strong correlation was observed between number of oocytes retrieved and CLBR as well as surplus embryo rate in PCOS patients. CLBR was elevated with the increasing number of oocytes and plateaued when oocyte number was up to ten, whereas the surplus embryo rate steadily increased in line with the increase of oocyte number. Patients transferred with frozen embryos showed higher CLBR and LBR during first ET than patients transferred with fresh embryos.

Conclusions

For PCOS patients, retrieving more than ten oocytes leads to no significant benefit to CLBR but generates surplus embryos. Thus, moderate ovarian stimulation should be reconsidered during IVF treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank everyone at the Reproductive Medical Center of Henan Provincial People’s Hospital for their scientific advice and encouragement.

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Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to the conception and design of this research study. The first author analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. The second author collected the data. The other authors critically revised the manuscript. The corresponding author finally approved the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cui-lian Zhang.

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Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Chen, Yh., Wang, Q., Zhang, Yn. et al. Cumulative live birth and surplus embryo incidence after frozen-thaw cycles in PCOS: how many oocytes do we need?. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 1153–1159 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0959-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0959-6

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