Limited value of morphological assessment at days 1 and 2 to predict blastocyst development potential: a prospective study based on 4042 embryos.

Background: Non-invasive and routine developmental markers are available to select the most viable embryo; however their respective values in terms of blastocyst development potential remain difficult to distinguish.

Methods: During this prospective study, the sequential growth of 4042 embryos individually cultured from day 1 to day 5/6 was recorded. Pronuclear morphology on day 1, and early cleavage, cell number and fragmentation rate on day 2 were evaluated for each zygote.

[Sequential assessment of individually cultured embryos in IVF].

Objective: It is a challenge for IVF centers to propose a method to select the most viable embryo to transfer, thereby minimizing the risk of multiple births. In this study, a prospective investigation was made to determine if non-invasive developmental markers on day 1 combined to conventional evaluation on day 2 can predict in vitro blastocyst development.

Patients And Methods: A total of 4190 individually cultured embryos from patients undergoing IVF/ICSI treatment at the Tours University Hospital Center from January 2002 to December 2004 were included.

Overnight incubation improves selection of frozen-thawed blastocysts for transfer: preliminary study using supernumerary embryos.

A study was undertaken to determine whether the interval between thawing and transfer influences both biological and clinical outcomes of cryopreserved blastocysts, using supernumerary embryos cultured in sequential media. One hundred and seventy-two patients who underwent blastocyst thawing without any exclusion criteria were included in this single center prospective study of blastocyst thawing cycles. Outcome of 338 blastocysts originating from culture of supernumerary embryos in sequential media was analyzed after 4 or 20 h of culture between thawing and transfer.

[Type II familial hyperlipoproteinaemia : value of plasma exchange treatment (author's transl)].

A 13-year-old boy with homozygous type II familial hyperlipoproteinaemia with marked cutaneous and tendinous xanthomatosis has been followed-up for a 3-year period. Signs of unstable angina developed at the age of 14 years, followed by the onset of a posterodiaphragmatic infarction at 16 years-ion. The usual poor spontaneous prognosis, and the lack of efficacy of medical treatment on blood cholesterol levels, led to suggest the use of plasmapheresis.