Clinical, obstetric and perinatal outcomes after vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst transfer are independent of cryo-storage duration.

Research Question: The study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the impact of cryo-storage duration on clinical, obstetric and perinatal outcomes after vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst transfer.

Design: This was an observational study including 2688 vitrified-warmed euploid single blastocyst transfers that was conducted at a private IVF centre between May 2013 and March 2020. It included a total of 1884 women (age 38 ± 3 years) undergoing at least one transfer after preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies.

Fertility Preservation Through Oocyte Vitrification: Clinical and Laboratory Perspectives.

Preserving female fertility is crucial in a multifunctional healthcare system that takes care of patients' future quality of life. Oocyte cryopreservation is recognized by several international scientific societies as the gold standard for fertility preservation in postpubertal women, for both medical and non-medical indications. The main medical indications are oncologic diseases, gynecologic diseases such as severe endometriosis, systemic diseases compromising the ovarian reserve, and genetic conditions involving premature menopause.

Leave the past behind: women's reproductive history shows no association with blastocysts' euploidy and limited association with live birth rates after euploid embryo transfers.

Study Question: Is there an association between patients' reproductive history and the mean euploidy rates per biopsied blastocysts (m-ER) or the live birth rates (LBRs) per first single vitrified-warmed euploid blastocyst transfers?

Summary Answer: Patients' reproductive history (as annotated during counselling) showed no association with the m-ER, but a lower LBR was reported after euploid blastocyst transfer in women with a history of repeated implantation failure (RIF).

What Is Known Already: Several studies have investigated the association between the m-ER and (i) patients' basal characteristics, (ii) ovarian stimulation strategy and dosage, (iii) culture media and conditions, and (iv) embryo morphology and day of full blastocyst development. Conversely, the expected m-ER due to women's reproductive history (previous live births (LBs), miscarriages, failed IVF cycles and transfers, and lack of euploid blastocysts among prior cohorts of biopsied embryos) still needs investigations.

Assessment and management of the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in an IVF laboratory.

Research Question: The study set out to identify corrective measures aimed at reducing the risk of aerosol-mediated viral infection within an IVF laboratory.

Design: A failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) was conducted by a multidisciplinary IVF team. A schematic representation of new protocols and procedures adopted during COVID-19 emergency has been defined, including directives about the behaviour to adopt when entering the clinic and the laboratory, in case of face-to-face contact with patients and between staff members.

Time of morulation and trophectoderm quality are predictors of a live birth after euploid blastocyst transfer: a multicenter study.

Objective: To investigate whether the morphodynamic characterization of a euploid blastocyst's development allows a higher prediction of a live birth after single-embryo-transfer (SET).

Design: Observational cohort study conducted in two phases: training and validation.

Setting: Private in vitro fertilization centers.

Definition and validation of a custom protocol to detect miRNAs in the spent media after blastocyst culture: searching for biomarkers of implantation.

Study Question: Can miRNAs be reliably detected in the spent blastocyst media (SBM) after IVF as putative biomarkers of the implantation potential of euploid embryos?

Summary Answer: Adjustment of the data for blastocyst quality and the day of full-expansion hinders the predictive power of a fast, inexpensive, reproducible and user-friendly protocol based on the detection of 10 selected miRNAs from SBM.

What Is Known Already: Euploidy represents so far the strongest predictor of blastocyst competence. Nevertheless, ~50% of the euploid blastocysts fail to implant.

Diagnostic efficacy of blastocoel fluid and spent media as sources of DNA for preimplantation genetic testing in standard clinical conditions.

Objective: To determine whether blastocoel fluid (BF) or spent blastocyst medium (SBM) is a suitable template for genotype and/or karyotype assessment of in vitro fertilization-generated embryos.

Design: Prospective blinded study.

Setting: Genetic laboratory.

Biochemical pregnancy loss after frozen embryo transfer seems independent of embryo developmental stage and chromosomal status.

Research Question: Biochemical pregnancy loss (BPL), defined as serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin levels ≥50 IU/l in at least two pregnancy tests, not associated with any ultrasonographical evidence of pregnancy, is often attributed to chromosomal abnormalities; however, no hard evidence exists to support this hypothesis. Are any IVF cycle parameters associated with the occurrence of a BPL?

Design: Retrospective study aimed at evaluating the effect of embryo developmental stage at transfer and chromosomal assessment on the BPL rate in IVF after frozen embryo transfer (FET). Specifically, 641 FET of 1179 cleavage stage untested embryos (Group A), 1021 FET of 1259 untested blastocyst stage embryos (Group B), and 789 blastocyst stage FET of 803 euploid embryos (Group C) were performed in a 6-year period.

Failure mode and effects analysis of witnessing protocols for ensuring traceability during PGD/PGS cycles.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and aneuploidy testing (PGD/PGS) use is constantly growing in IVF, and embryo/biopsy traceability during the additional laboratory procedures needed is pivotal. An electronic witnessing system (EWS), which showed a significant value in decreasing mismatch occurrence and increasing detection possibilities during standard care IVF, still does not guarantee the same level of efficiency during PGD/PGS cycles. Specifically, EWS cannot follow single embryos throughout the procedure.